X-Team
by FlameRP
Summary: Legend of Korra meets X-Men. Set in the X-Men universe after the events of Logan
1. Origins

Laura Kinney had barely been able to keep up with her fellow runaways because she was so overcome with emotion after her biological father's death while fighting his evil clone. "daddy" she whimpered while in the arms of several of her female companions, Rictor and several of the boys were exploring the cave that they had taken shelter in to hide from the Transigen hit squads that were still out to get them.

They heard a flurry of noise and suddenly they were all on the floor having been viciously electrocuted by someone from behind. "you will not go any further" the voice of an older woman exclaimed quietly before she walked away and dragged the boys that had been exploring back into the cave. One of them was Rictor, the other two were Mako and Bolin. They were amongst the oldest of the group, Rictor and Bolin were both able to control the earth beneath their feet, albeit in different ways. Rictor could create earthquakes and Bolin could create and control lava. Mako, on the other hand, could create and control fire, Rictor and Mako were sixteen and seventeen respectively and Bolin was thirteen

Laura dragged herself into a sitting position, the burn from the electricity healing rapidly. "quién eres tú?" she asked

The woman turned around and raised her arm. On her hand there was a strange glove like contraption. "that's something new" she muttered under her breath, noticing that the person's arm had healed nearly completely in the few seconds she was gone and not understanding a word that came out of her mouth. She also realised that this person was just a child. "crap" she whispered and her furious glare lessened a bit

"quién eres tú?" Laura whispered again, the woman's blank face indicated that she didn't understand a word that she said, "who are you?" she decided to try the other language she knew

"My name is Asami" the older woman smiled slightly

"Asami" Laura pondered, "por qué estás aquí?" she shook her head "sorry... why are you here?"

"I'm protecting someone I care about" Asami explained with a slight smile

"who?"

"Her name is Korra" Asami whispered with a dreamy expression

"Debes amarla mucho" Laura muttered to herself, curious

"What about you, what's your name?" Asami whispered, still worried about being found

"Laura" Laura replied quietly, following Asami's lead

"And why are you here?" Asami asked, echoing the younger girl. It seemed a fair exchange, she knew why Asami was there so it seemed fair that Asami would ask why she was there

"Running" Laura turned away

"Oh I'm sorry" Asami caught her meaning right away since that was something she knew so well. She edged closer to the upset girl and held her hand tightly. Laura didn't return the gesture nor did she pull away. "i want to show you something" Asami whispered before she stood and helped the girl stand. She led the girl down a maze of tunnels that she obviously knew well and into a cavern that was lit by a strange light coming from a machine in the centre of the structure

*

A woman looked up as Asami led Laura forward. She scowled slightly, "Asami I thought we'd agreed to keep this place secret?"

"she's a kid, Lin" Asami replied calmly

"hmmm" Lin glared at Laura who glared right back

"Vete a la mierda" Laura spat with unexpected venom

"Feisty pequeña perra no eres tú?" Lin replied coldly before she looked at Asami, 'i might just get to like this one" she smiled, "reminds me of someone else I used to know" Lin looked at the contraption in the centre of the room

"¿que es eso?"

"Korra está allí ... ella está dormida y ha estado desde que era muy pequeña" Lin explained to her. "you really ought to learn Spanish" Lin smirked at Asami's blank stare. "I told her Korra is in there, that she is asleep and has been since she was very small"

"I'm sorry, Asami" Laura whispered, realising again that she hadn't understood a thing she said

"it's fine, Laura" she answered kindly before she went up and stood next to the machine in the middle of the room. "you wanna see her?"

Laura nodded enthusiastically and ran forward to the machine. "not sure this is a good idea... We went to hell and back getting that poor girl out of that lab"

"shut it, Lin" Asami grunted in frustration, "she's just a kid, besides, I think she's like her" Lin's eyebrow raised slightly but she nodded and pressed a button on a control panel.

"on your own head be it" Lin replied with a hiss and the machine slowly started to open. Laura watched in amazement as the cylindrical tube clicked and opened slowly, revealing another layer of casing, this time transparent. There were dents and scratches all over the lower part of the transparent casing but Laura continued to look up slowly, taking into account all the tubes and wires stuck in to and on a muscular figure who was held in place by thick metal straps. Her eyes were closed but there was still a slight flow of air

"adimantium..." Laura whispered

"yup, the whole casing is made of the stuff" Asami sighed, "we can't break it, not even Lin here can get in to it"

Lin growled. "must've spent at least two weeks trying to break this bitch open"

Laura just eyed Lin curiously before she stepped forward, her adimantium claws slowly extending from between her fingers, "see?" Asami whispered to an awestruck Lin.

"There hasn't been a mutant born in over twenty years" Lin whispered, "except of course" she looked back at the contraption which was now shutting.

"Puedo romper el adimantium"

"you can break the adimantium?!" Lin exclaimed and Laura nodded

"Wait what?" Asami gasped. "How?!" her eyes shone

"Asami... Not sure" Lin had her reservations about releasing this particular mutant.

"Lin..." Asami began but stopped speaking and closed her mouth

"Asami, I know..."

"know what?"

"How you feel about Korra. Don't forget I was there in the city when you two were kids before Korra revealed her powers" Lin smiled kindly, "i saw you two playing and I saw how you reacted to Korra's disappearance"

Asami blushed, Lin was right, she had been there the whole time but when she had also vanished Asami hadn't noticed. "I'm sorry, Lin" Asami muttered. Laura watched the two adults embrace and hug each other tightly

"I'm sorry too Asami. I know you're eager to be reunited with her... In a way I am too, I've spent too long keeping her safe in suspended animation, it's time she got a chance to have a life again, away from... All of that"

Laura noticed Lin had some tears in her eyes and cautiously stepped towards the frightening older woman. Before Asami or Lin even had time to think, Laura had approached Lin and hugged her. Lin had scowled briefly but returned the hug awkwardly a few seconds later. She didn't like randomly being hugged by people, especially strangers. The only people allowed to hug her were Asami, and Korra, if they ever got her out that is.

"Laura, I think we should probably explain" Asami looked at Lin to see if she'd be willing to translate if Laura didn't understand.

"yup" Lin nodded

"I want to know" Laura nodded when Asami looked at her questioningly.

*

"Well, it all began about thirty years ago" Asami began, before she looked at Lin, who nodded. "A unique city was built for a group of people like Lin here, Lin can control metal and earth, so her and several hundred people moved to this place named Republic City. It was a closed society really, built deep under Antarctica. My father was one of the founding individuals, him, a man called Tenzin and another called Raiko worked together to create this haven for people like Tenzin, Lin and Korra's parents after several high profile murders of people like them. While the city didn't get the full range of abilities, it got enough to form four distinct communities, those who could manipulate the earth, those who could manipulate the air, those who could manipulate fire and those who could manipulate water. Other People with other abilities were already dying off by the time the city was opened and unfortunately there was little that could be done for the vast majority of them"

"We ended up with a few of those with other abilities amongst us, those we had saved on our way to the city, although they were weak and sterile. A number of the water community discovered they had the ability to heal with the water so they took care of those exposed to whatever it was that destroyed 'the mutant X gene'" Lin spoke with disdain and gestured in the air when she said 'mutant X gene'. "We were lucky, Hiroshi came back one day and told the senior members of the city, I was the chief of police at the time, that it was horrible outside. The streets were literally littered with bodies of people like me, both adults and children alike"

Asami covered her eyes with her hands, "all that death" she whispered.

Laura felt angry, she too had been slated for termination like all those poor people. "Fóllalos!" she spat, much to Lin's amusement

"what I, what everyone didn't know at the time was that Tenzin, Hiroshi and Raiko had agreed to work with a military force to attempt to discover a way to create an 'ultimate mutant'" Lin growled

Laura looked angry, "like me?" she asked, "a weapon?"

"yes, and no" Lin turned to the girl and took her hands, looked firmly into her eyes and continued, "yes, they were meant to be weapons, but no, they didn't start life like you" Lin had heard the children talking with her mutant ability but had decided not to do anything unless they got closer. Asami on the other hand had attacked to protect Korra.

"of course they eventually succeeded" Asami began

"Korra?" Laura asked

"Korra." Lin confirmed

"what happened?"

*

"i was nine or ten, Korra and I were playing until Korra coughed and her top caught fire. This was unusual because her parents were both from the water community, although there probably had been a certain amount of cross breeding beforehand. Korra could now control, or bend, multiple elements" Asami explained, "soon after she started manipulating earth. Once that happened she disappeared" Asami bit her lip to avoid crying

"Senna and Tonraq approached me after it happened and begged me to help them get their daughter back, to which I agreed. I eventually found a lead which led me to an area of the city I wasn't aware of. I couldn't get in so I went undercover and infiltrated it, I found Korra, poor girl was chained to a bed, unable to move more than a few inches" she paused. "meanwhile, someone had cottoned on to the fact that Senna and Tonraq had" she noticed Laura's confusion, "they're Korra's parents, had got involved and were trying to rescue their daughter, so they were brutally murdered" at this Laura broke down in tears. Lin stopped, looked confused for a second before she picked the girl up and held her tight.

After a few minutes Laura's sobbing subsided, "por favor continua"

"Whoever had killed them had hoped to discourage whomever they'd paid to rescue their daughter because they wouldn't be getting paid" Lin smiled "suffice to say it didn't work. I was already on the inside and when I saw what they were doing to that girl, I had to intervene" she paused. "Korra had a major freak out when she was told her parents had been murdered, she was scary, she was bending all four of the elements and her eyes were glowing. She was shot with some kind of sedative dart, she collapsed and they put her in that thing. She tried to escape when she woke so they put her in a coma" Lin stopped and placed her hand on the casing, "poor girl hasn't been awake for something like fifteen years. I got her out about sixteen years ago and I've been on the run ever since. Let me tell you two years drifting in a boat damn near killed me" she smiled, "but fortunately I made landfall in Mexico where I hid for many years, carrying this one and getting her suitable food" she pointed and indicated the tube into her stomach "wherever I went was difficult, but I came to think of her as my daughter in the end and now I'd gladly die to protect her"

"I left the city when I was fifteen, and Korra would've been nine then. I had received a coded message from Lin to tell me that my best friend was safe. She had began to use the term 'avatar' to describe Korra and used that in the code. My father still read my mail at that age and I believe Lin knew that, hence the code. It took me two days to decode it with the limited technology I had available in the city although I had snuck in to my father's lab a few times to use that equipment to decode and translate it" she paused and a tear ran down her face, "I stole a large amount of money from my father and ran away. It was one of his offshore accounts that was in a tax haven so he couldn't get the authority's help in retrieving the money or tracking the account. I was free from that prison city, I could've grown up anywhere. New York, Sydney, London, but instead I was stuck in there. I took a similar journey to Lin and made landfall rather faster than her. Lin and Korra had found a place to hide and encoded a clue to their location in the letter I received. I had to walk for nearly a month to find them, that was years ago. I lose track"

"it took me four months to infiltrate that compound and get Korra out, I was at sea for two years with a heavy machine and made landfall in Mexico where I hid for several years before contacting Asami. She wasn't even aware that Korra was still alive after she had vanished. She met with me and we spent the next seven years getting across the US. We've been hiding here for about two years. All in all sixteen and a half years, they sucked balls, not that I'd ever do such a thing!" she laughed, thinking about Kya, the girl she left behind.

*

Laura who has been listening quietly while the two adults told their story to her sat up and hugged Lin and Asami, the latter cautiously, she had been electrocuted by her after all. "gracias por confiar en mí" she whispered

"De nada" Lin replied, astounding Asami at how easily she switched between languages

"we were supposed to be the first wave of soldiers" Laura began, "the government wanted new weapons to force everyone to bow to them and accept their leadership, and we were going to be the tool of that change. We were later decided to be unnecessary because they'd found a better way to create supersoldiers, we ran, some of us were caught and put to sleep and others escaped" she held her hands out and also pointed back in the direction she'd come in to the cave. "I expect though that the company have already started rolling out their new soldiers, soon the whole world will be under their iron fist

Lin growled "and I expect clones of our friends and family will be involved later too"

"We have to stop this" Asami whispered. "Laura, break that motherfucker open!" she pointed at the capsule. Lin looked concerned, "if we want to stop this, we'll need her, and everyone else left" Lin nodded, resigned to what was coming next.


	2. Freedom

Laura threw herself at the outside of the inner cylinder as soon as Lin had opened the outer one up, she screamed and stabbed at the adimantium reinforced glass as viciously as she could. Her claws scraped and banged on the capsule loud enough for the other mutant children to be woken by it. Mako, having realised Laura wasn't there after they'd all been electrocuted, jumped to his feet and ran in the direction of the disturbance closely followed by all the others. The children charged in with their powers in full display only to find themselves restrained by the metal plates they had run on to. "hey!" Mako growled, "let us go!"

Asami was hovering close to the capsule, protecting it with her glove raised and they could hear Laura on the other side of it, trying to smash it. "Lin, get those kids to safety!" Asami bellowed over the noise, "and collapse those tunnels!" Lin nodded, moved the metal panels to the far side of the cavern with a twitch of her finger before she lowered her hand and caused a massive cave in by the entrance

"job done" Lin nodded, she hurried forward eagerly when there was a cracking sounds from the capsule and seconds later there was a shattering noise. The capsule had broken. Asami cried in delight before she hugged Laura tightly crying her thanks with tears running down her face. "not over yet, Asami" Lin muttered before she fashioned a blade out of her armour that she was wearing and sliced cleanly through the straps and chains that were holding the dark skinned woman to the machine. "fuck you, Raiko!" she growled, slicing the straps on Korra's legs. "Fuck you, Tenzin!" she snarled, slicing the straps on her arms. "fuck you, Hiroshi!" she yelled while she made quick work of the straps over Korra's body. "FUCK YOU, NOATAK! FUCK YOU, TARRLOK! FUCK YOU, UNALAQ!!" she bellowed at the top of her voice, cutting all the tubes, the wires and everything else going into or stuck on Korra. She was breathing heavily when she withdrew after she had sliced all the tubes and wires and pulled everything except the ventilator and the feeding tube out of Korra. "fuck you all" she panted and slunk away to a pond where she pulled out a mug and dipped it into the water, drinking from it before she looked at Laura and held out her arms.

Much to the surprise of the other mutants, Laura grinned and ran into the older woman's arms. "thank you" Asami whispered tearfully when she had walked over and joined the hug

"De nada" Laura whispered

"Yeah, thanks Laura" Lin wheezed and cuddled the girl tightly

"De nada" Laura repeated. "how long til she wakes?" she asked

"I haven't a clue" Lin shrugged.

"While we're waiting, why not introduce your friends?" Asami asked kindly

"Jonah, Gideon, Rebecca, Delilah, Rictor, Mako, Bolin, Joey" she pointed at each of them and named each one

Lin scowled while Asami smiled and nodded at each of them. "hi, nice to meet you, and apologies for the metal, it's for your own safety"

"me no comprende" one of the children, Rebecca, stuttered

Asami looked at Lin expectantly, she scowled before translating Asami's words into Spanish. "hola, encantado de conocerte, y disculpas por el metal, es por tu propia seguridad"

The children looked confused but then nodded and returned to watching Laura who had wrapped her hands up in Asami's and Lin's happily. "thank you!" Asami exclaimed again trying to stem the flow of tears running down her face.

*

They had been waiting for nearly fourteen hours before Korra groaned and moved her hand slightly. Asami heard her and ran to be with her best friend again, a friend she hadn't spoken to for many years. "Korra" she whispered

"ugh" the dark skinned woman groaned, opening her eyes slightly

"Korra!" Asami called and gently touched her cheek

"Sssss..." Korra tried to speak but due to the surgical incision in her throat, she was unable to do so, much to her frustration

"hush Korra" Asami whispered, "it's me, Asami, I'm here Korra" Korra blinked and turned her head weakly to look at Asami, "don't try to talk, I'm here." she looked up at Lin, "can we get this thing out of her?" she indicated the tube into Korra's neck

"I'm not sure, Asami" Lin began, "if Korra is awake enough to understand us explain then we could try I guess"

"Korra? Korra?" Asami smiled gently down at the woman, "do you know who I am?"

Lin took Asami's hand carefully and put it in Korra's, "one squeeze for yes" she explained quietly, "do you understand?"

"She does!" Asami exclaimed after one squeeze. "do you know who I am?" she asked and got one squeeze in reply. Asami breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "do you know who you are?" one squeeze. "do you know who she is?" Asami indicated Lin, one squeeze. "do you know what happened?" Lin asked quietly, no squeeze and Asami shook her head. Korra then pointed at her mouth, "you want to know why you can't talk?" one squeeze so Asami took Korra's hand and guided it up to the tube in her neck, "you're on a ventilator, Korra" Asami explained, "you were heavily unconscious so you couldn't breathe on your own" Korra's eyes widened in panic and she attempted to pull the tube out weakly. "no, Korra!" Asami exclaimed and took Korra's hands into her hands to stop her struggling. "you have to have it in to breathe" Asami explained, "if I turn it off you may not be able to breathe, do you understand?" Korra squeezed her hand once, "do you want to try it?" Korra squeezed her hand again, "alright, if you're struggling to breathe I want you to hold my hand tightly, not a single short squeeze but a long continuous one, do you understand?" Korra squeezed her hand one last time. "right, Lin, turn it off" Lin did so, she reached behind Korra's prison bed and switched a switch. "Korra, breathe" Asami commanded and Korra tried her hardest to breathe, her muscles fatigued from years of disuse, after a few seconds she shook her head and frowned, squeezing Asami's hand tightly. Lin sighed and flicked the switch once again.

"I'm sorry, Korra" Lin sighed and put her hand on the sulking woman's shoulder.

"the only way to get them working again is to use them, Korra" Asami whispered kindly, "is it possible to turn that thing down so Korra is less dependent upon it?"

Lin nodded, "i think so, Asami"

"hey! What about us?!" Mako called

"We never invited you in" Lin growled

"Lin!"

"sorry, Asami. Sorry, kid" Lin waved her hand and freed the mutants from the metal that encased their feet, they ran to Laura and started jabbering away in their native language. Asami heard her name mentioned a few times as well as Lin's and Korra's.

"trust them" Asami whispered, "they're in the same boat as us"

Lin nodded slowly, "but if they harm you or Korra in any way, I'll snap their necks"

"Deal." Korra got Asami's attention by squeezing her hand again. "what's wrong, sweetie?" Korra blushed then pointed to her mouth. "you're hungry?" one squeeze. "Lin, do we have any of that gloop left over?" Lin nodded and walked away, half the mutants watched her while the others watched Asami and Korra share a moment of reunion. "i missed you, Korra" Asami said while she stroked the girl's cheek and got a squeeze in reply

Lin returned with a plastic bottle of creamy looking liquid, Korra's eyes widened and she shook her head weakly, trying to express her distaste. Lin only laughed, "don't worry Korra you won't have to taste this crap, it's for tube feeds" Korra's eyes widened and she held her hand up to her face looking for a tube, "no Korra, it's not up there" Lin explained kindly before she lifted Korra's top a little while Asami lifted Korra's head gently so she could see the tube in her stomach. Korra's eyes widened again and she fought back tears. "oh Korra!" Lin exclaimed, quickly pushed the tube formula into Laura's hands and hugged her tight. Seconds later, Asami joined the hug and the only noise was the whooshing from the ventilator

"Korra... You're alright" Asami whispered while wiping Korra's eyes

Laura handed the formula back to Lin as Asami led her forward to Korra's bedside. "hola" she whispered timidly

"Korra, this is Laura, she helped break you out of this machine" she indicated the remains of the machine that Korra was surrounded by

Korra smiled weakly at Laura who lost her fear nearly immediately, she was surrounded by friendly people, even Lin whom she could tell was only tough on the exterior, on the interior she was as kind and as caring as Asami. Korra, who radiated power, had a kind face and Laura knew she'd be safe with them. "Korra?" she whispered, which caught the woman's attention immediately, "tienes hermosos ojos." Korra smiled widely before she turned her head to watch what Lin was doing, she was hanging the bottle of formula on a hook on what had been the outside of the capsule before she hooked it up to the tube that trailed into Korra's stomach and pressed a few buttons on an electronic device.

"There you go Korra" Lin whispered kindly. Korra pouted slightly, "sorry, Korra, it's not safe for you to eat with that in" she indicated the tracheostomy

Asami suddenly had an idea, she pulled a notepad out of one of her bags and handed it to Korra, "here"

Korra scribbled down two words and showed Asami and Lin, 'fuck's sake'. "I know Korra, I know" Lin sighed.

She scribbled on the notepad again, 'how long was I in that thing?'. Asami and Lin shared a look, trying to decide whether to tell her or not. "you were asleep for sixteen years, Korra" Asami sighed. Korra blinked once then closed her eyes. "Think she fell unconscious" Asami muttered

"Asami..." Lin began, "get everyone back. Now! Do it now!" she yelled and threw herself at Laura, pushing her back away from Korra who's eyes began to glow and she was surrounded by a ball of air. The table under her warped and the adimantium began to glow as the air heated up. "shit!" Lin yelled, "run!"

"No" Asami whispered before she moved closer to Korra and grabbed her hands, pulling the weakened girl into her arms. "Korra" she whispered. "Korra" she wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend and felt tears running on to her back, soaking her clothes. "Korra" she repeated until she eventually calmed down, her eyes stopped glowing and Lin looked at Asami dumbfounded.

"Last time that happened she nearly killed everyone within a hundred feet and wrecked the brothers' lab" Lin muttered astounded

There was a slight snoring noise coming from Asami's shoulder, Korra had fallen asleep on Asami. She led Korra down but placed her head on her chest. "she's fallen asleep" Asami squeaked with adoration, the last time Korra had fallen asleep on her was when she was three, after she had had a nightmare. "she's so adorable!!" Asami squeaked quietly


	3. Painful Reminders

"good night, Asami" Lin called from her sleeping bag near the fire that Mako had been kind enough to provide

"G'night, Lin" Asami called back while she stroked Korra's hair absentmindedly. They had been talking all day, with the occasional input from Laura, about how to help Korra. Asami had noted that muscle atrophy hadn't seemed to affect the power she showed while her eyes were glowing. Lin had argued the opposite side and argued that being in that particular state was the reason she had fallen asleep immediately after coming out of it. Asami was worried that she had tired herself out too much and Lin provided reassurance that Korra was strong and that she'd be alright. Asami continued to fret until Laura realised that the system had a way of monitoring the vitals of whoever occupied it, however Asami pointed out that Lin had sliced all the cables. Asami concluded that she would have to stay awake all night to keep an eye on Korra while Lin argued that that idea was ridiculously stupid for multiple reasons. Lin described in detail how Asami hadn't been sleeping properly being that close to Korra and still not being able to be with her, she also reminded them that they and the others were on the run from people who may have even pooled their resources in order to get them, if they knew that were working together. Lin sincerely hoped they weren't aware they were working together, it would increase the risk to Korra and Asami and she might actually have to follow through with that promise to snap one or more of the mutant children's necks. Laura had been aware of the X-Men's use of alternate identities to protect themselves so she had suggested it to Lin and Asami, Lin nodded and told Laura that she had nicknamed Korra 'the avatar' because of her inhuman strength with her bending abilities would seem to be powered by something otherworldly, she may even be a class five mutant, the first since Jean Grey. Lin liked the idea so much that she agreed to immediately think of some other nicknames for herself and Asami and advised Laura to do the same if she intended to stick with them. They had agreed that there was little they could do until Korra had been weaned off the ventilator, which was their first priority. Lin sighed, wishing she had accepted her fiance's, wait, ex's, suggestion that she should come too. Lin had been so worried about Korra's safety and the safety of her then-fiance that she had refused her efforts to come along with her and Korra. They had so much to discuss that it was past midnight when they finally started to go to bed, Mako and the others were already asleep, Asami couldn't really move because Korra was still asleep on her so that left Lin and Laura to get themselves ready for bed.

"muchas Gracias" Laura whispered when Lin pulled out some of Asami's old clothes for her to wear

"You're welcome" Lin yawned before she curled up in her sleeping bag and went to sleep

*

Laura woke up a few hours later, her enhanced senses detecting something the others could not, as they were still sleeping. She moved timidly towards Lin but decided against it and went to Asami instead. "Asami!" she whispered, "Asami!"

"Go to sleep, Laura, it's the middle of the night!"

"Someone's coming!" Laura whispered loudly

"what? Are you sure?" Laura nodded. Asami threw a rolled up piece of paper at Lin to wake her

"fuck off" Lin grumbled sleepily

"Someone's coming, Lin!"

Lin sat bolt upright, "shit!" she growled before moving to the collapsed entrance and stomping her foot

"there's only one person, Asami, where's your spare glove?"

"Over there" Asami called back, "be careful Lin"

"of course" Lin nodded at Asami and Laura, who had ran to Asami and held her hand tightly, before she disappeared underground. A few minutes later there was a distant shriek

"it's otay Laura," Asami whispered, trying to calm the younger girl, "Lin just zapped whoever it was"

"SHIT!" Lin exclaimed, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Lin?" Asami called, "what's going on, Lin?"

Lin shifted the rocks blocking the entrance to their cave and walked back in while carrying a woman around her age over her shoulder, "we have an intruder" Lin muttered through her smile

"who is it and how the fuck did they find us?!" Asami yelped, jumping up onto her feet and disturbing Korra who grunted and lifted her arms weakly while wondering what had happened to her warm pillow. Asami stalked closer to the woman, pulling her glove on as she walked. "I'll fill them with electricity, that'll make them talk!"

"No need, Asami"

"Lin? Why are you grinning like an idiot?"

"you don't remember her, do you?" Asami shook her head, "she was the one who helped give birth to you as an assistant to her mother, Katara, and the one who helped Senna give birth to Korra, her name is Kya" Lin blushed a little when she said the name

"And...?" Asami inquired, noticing the blush

"And she was my fiance" Lin admitted, looking more downcast by the second

"Awwwwww" Asami squeaked and hugged Lin before she pulled away and realised the older woman wasn't happy, "Lin? Why aren't you happy?"

"I spent so long planning this, I worked so hard so that we couldn't be traced by anyone, and I made it so the code I used in the letter could only be broken by you, I wanted to keep Korra safe but I also wanted to keep Kya out of it"

"tough" a voice said, Asami jumped and looked around before she realised that Kya had been the one to speak, "you're stuck with me" she growled before she slapped Lin in the face, "one! For running away without me!" Kya then slapped Lin again, "and two for electrocuting me! That fucking hurts!"

"I guess I deserved that first one..." Lin whispered sadly, "i didn't want to leave you, I wanted to protect you from any bad things that may happen from this..." she gestured around

"So you left me with MY BROTHER and the rest of those sick sadists?!" Kya yelled. "my brother, who conspired with the government to turn people like Korra into a weapon?!" Kya screamed, "the brothers Tarrlok and Noatak, who kidnapped Korra and brutally experimented on her under the guidance of her own unkle, Unalaq?!" spit was flying from Kya's mouth and the mutant children had poked their heads around the cave wall, timidly watching the woman screaming at Lin, "or perhaps people like Zaheer, P'Li and Ghazan, Raiko's assassins who did away with Korra's parents AND YOUR OWN MOTHER?!"

"What?" Lin hissed

"yes, you heard correctly, Ghazan was the one who murdered your mother, Lin" Kya spat heartlessly

Lin sat down heavily, "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch"

"not if he finds you first!" Kya screamed, "yes, that's right. All four of them are searching for Korra and you and Asami" she leaned right up in Lin's face, "and you know what's going to happen when they do find your?!" Kya pointed to her forehead and looked Lin in the eyes

*

Kya finally noticed Asami, who was still brandishing her shock glove threateningly, and behind her, Korra. "hi, Asami, nice to see you again after all these years" Kya smiled, "Korra?" she whispered, noticing how ill the younger woman looked, "Korra?" she repeated and walked over to her. "do you remember me?"

"here" Asami said softly, although she kept her glove close just in case Kya tried anything and put Kya's hand in Korra's, she squeezed it once, "once means yes" Asami explained, "she's unable to talk because of the ventilator and tracheostomy and she's still too weak to write more than a few words"

"Oh Korra, what did they do to you?" Kya muttered sadly. She turned to Lin, "you left with Korra without me, knowing she was in that state?!" Kya growled, incensed. "i used to think you were brave for standing up against them as well as selfless for trying not to get others hurt, but now I see you're just plain fucking stupid!!" Kya took another swing at Lin, who narrowly dodged being slapped for a third time before she turned away from her ex, Lin didn't bother replying knowing that she'd be ignored for at least a few hours if not longer

"That could've gone better" Lin muttered to herself

"Korra, it's otay" Kya whispered and gently wiped the younger girl's tears. "we'll protect you and I'll heal you up in no time. Asami, duty calls" she pointed at the bed and Asami complied, wrapping herself around Korra and cuddling into her, providing her the warmth and reassurance she needed to be able to sleep. "tomorrow, we will begin you on your long road to recovery" Kya whispered before she pulled out her own sleeping bag and set up her tent in the opposite side of the cavern from Lin's sleeping bag. "goodnight"


	4. Righting a Wrong

"Korra" Kya whispered, "Korra, time to wake up"

"Unghhh"

"Korra, time to wake up"

"Come on sweetie, I know you're exhausted" Asami whispered

"Hsssssss" Korra tried to speak but was unable to

"Oh Korra," Kya looked down sadly, "I'm going to try to heal your lungs otay?" Korra nodded weakly so Kya pulled out her water bottle and opened it before she pulled the water out of it. The water formed a disk on Kya's palm before she placed it against Korra's bare chest. Korra groaned and her body loosened up slowly. "your lungs are fine, Korra although there's been a fair amount of atrophy"

"oh Korra" Lin, who had woken up a few minutes ago, opened her eyes and looked blearily at Korra before she got out of her sleeping bag. Sometime in the night, Laura had moved her sleeping bag closer to Korra and Lin's respective beds, or makeshift bed in Lin's case and the young girl was disturbed by the noise of Lin's voice, her superior hearing being more an annoyance than a help.

"morning" Laura yawned to the women around her

"Laura" Lin nodded her head curtly and then smiled, opening her arms for a hug

"my my, Lin" Kya whispered and smiled at her ex, "you look so cute when you care" Laura had snuggled down in Lin's reassuringly strong grip

"hmph" Lin grunted and scowled, much to Asami's amusement

"come on, Lin" she whispered, "lighten up"

"Fine" Lin sighed, "I'll try to be less... Abrasive than usual"

"Much appreciated, Lin" Kya winked

"so, what's the plan for today?"

"I'm going to spend all day on healing what I can" Kya sighed, "it's a mess. This'll take a fair old length of time to make even the smallest bit of progress, but... Korra is still alive, unlike the test subject" she spat the words out with an intense look of loathing on her face, "immediately preceding her, he only made it for about fifteen minutes"

"there was one before Korra?" Asami whispered, perplexed

"Yes, poor little bugger ended up tearing himself apart because of the combination of the bending abilities, or mutant powers, whichever you prefer to call them"

"Why were you there?" Lin asked quietly

"I had been called in on a code blue, unfortunately there was nothing I could do to save him... I named the little boy just before he flatlined for the final time

*

Korra groaned in discomfort when she felt the water pass over a particularly sore area of her chest, "hsssssss" she tried to stop Kya but was still unable to speak. Korra grimaced and fought back tears for as long as she could but in the end they ended up streaming down her face. Asami and Lin were off hunting and the mutant children were keeping to themselves, Kya was checking on Korra regularly but perhaps not regularly enough for someone in Korra's position. She was, after all, used to people screaming if the pain got too much. Even babies made a noise if something hurt.

"Kya!! ¡la estás haciendo daño!" Laura yelled at Kya who withdrew her hands immediately and the water flowed on to the floor

"shit" Kya whispered and moved away from Korra, she slumped to the floor and breathed in deeply. "Korra... I'm so sorry..." she whispered and watched Laura run over to Korra and stand between her and Korra her blades on full show

"what happened?!" Asami tore into the room, she noticed Kya a distance away from Korra and noticed Laura standing with her blades levelled at Kya

"ella le hizo daño" Laura whispered while keeping her blades level

"Huh?"

"she hurt her" Laura repeated, this time in English

"I'm sorry!" Kya breathed sadly, "i didn't check to see if she was in pain!"

"What caused the pain?" Asami growled

"I think it was the ventilator" Kya replied, although she still had tears on her cheeks she was no longer crying. "i need to remove it"

"Mantente alejado!" Laura spat, she had heard Korra's laboured breathing and pained hisses from the other side of the room and was shocked that Kya hadn't realised she had been causing Korra pain. She had immediately sunk into a flashback of when the people in the lab had first grafted her adimantium blades on to her bones, she remembered the agony and had stood between Korra and Kya immediately assuming that the older woman was causing pain on purpose

"What's happening here?" Lin's voice echoed around the cave

"Laura said Kya hurt Korra" Asami growled

"Kya would never!" Lin snapped, she realised Kya had been crying and in that instant she realised that Kya may have hurt Korra, but she never intended to. "Kya" Lin whispered and moved to her side.

"I'm sorry, Lin! I'm sorry, Korra!" Kya exclaimed, "i should've been more attentive, I should've realised you can't speak or move and given you an alternative way to tell me it hurt!"

"Kya" Lin knelt down next to Kya and she wrapped her arms around Lin and hugged her, secretly scared that her compassion had gone the same way as her brother's. _This is nice_ Lin admitted to herself when Kya wrapped her arms around her once again, like old times. "Kya..."

"I'm sorry, Lin" Kya whispered, "i was so mad with the whole damn situation I hurt you and got distracted while healing Korra, and ended up hurting her too"

"It's otay, Kya, people make mistakes" Lin whispered before she hugged her ex tightly

"Friends?" Kya asked sadly

"I want more"

"good, so do I"

"so shall we right a wrong we both made?"

"yes"

Kya and Lin moved closer...


	5. Reconcilation

"ugh!" Asami called, "get a room you two!"

Kya and Lin had been cuddling and kissing for nearly ten minutes, "fuck you, Asami" Kya called back before she growled when she was pinched

"please don't talk to my daughter like that" Lin asked seriously

"Seriously... You're doing THAT here? There's kids in the next cave along as well as one right here!" she indicated Laura, who was still curled up in Asami's arms and shaking after her recent flashback

"You're right, Asami, as well as a pretty innocent Glowbe" Lin called back

"Excuse me?" Asami's eyebrows rose

"Glowbe" Lin pointed at Korra who was watching the scene from her bed, the ventilator tubes she had developed an annoying habit of pulling led forgotten.

"Uhhh..."

"Her eyes, Asami, glowing globes, Glowbe"

"Ohhhh" Asami giggled, "that's quite smart"

"don't I know it" Lin smirked back proudly, "i liked Laura's idea of nicknames after all, and if we're unfortunate, the people back at Republic City will have worked out that Avatar was what I called Korra so..."

"So you needed to think of a new one?"

"precisely"

"fair enough... What's mine and Kya's then? As well as yours?"

"You're 'Emerald', I'm 'Officer' and this one here is 'Doc'"

"uh... Emerald makes sense, but why not 'Chief'? And why's Kya 'Doc'?"

"There's only one Republic City Chief of police... Kya's 'Doc' on account of her healing hands"

"All quite clever... After all" she added the second bit muttering

"gotta be one step ahead of the enemy" Lin breathed in deeply when Kya moved towards her

"Seriously you two, if you don't cut it out in front of Laura and Glowbes, I'm gonna zap you both" she brandished her glove again

"fair enough" Lin replied and built herself and Kya a sizable earthen tent

*

"Hssssss" Korra breathed

"I'm so sorry you had to see that, Glowbes" Asami whispered soothingly to the younger girl

"Hssssss" Korra replied and tugged gently on the ventilator tube

"i know sweetie, unfortunately 'Doc' is otherwise occupied"

"hss" Korra hissed, clearly weakened from her healing session, as well as watching Lin and Kya and just generally being awake

"Go to sleep, Glowbes, it'll be alright"

Laura jumped up on to the bed, where she breathed "hola hermosos ojos" and curled up next to the girl she was protecting

"Hssssss" Korra replied wearily

"ve a dormir, ojos hermosos"

Korra smiled and held the younger girl's hand as well as Asami's hand and drifted off to sleep. "she does have beautiful eyes" Asami whispered to Laura who looked at her in surprise

"¿tú entiendes?"

"huh?"

"You understood?"

"Yes, Lin told me what that meant last night after you'd drifted back off to sleep"

"ahh" Laura giggled slightly and reached out her other hand to the older woman who took it

After a few minutes, Laura squeezed Asami's hand and whispered something into her ear, "mi papá me dijo que no me dejara convertir en un arma," clearly it was meant for Asami alone but she vowed to ask Lin what it meant. Giggling was now coming from the earthbent tent a small distance from the little group, as well as heavy breathing.

"Oh, those two" Asami giggled

"¿Qué?"

"Nothing..." Asami breathed while still giggling


	6. A Family

Asami and Kya were standing either side of Korra, Kya was rubbing her hands over Korra's bare chest in an effort to heal it and Asami was slowly turning the ventilator down. Kya had raided a nearby hospital for an alternative, she had come back with a piece of equipment that Asami had quickly discovered was called a 'continuous positive airway pressure' machine. "It can be worn with a mask or attached to that thing" she pointed at the tube in Korra's neck before Korra gripped Asami's hand tightly indicating she could no longer breathe. "sorry, Korra" Asami turned the ventilator up a little again and Korra nodded. "right. It looks like this thing and that pressure machine have similar settings, so I imagine a good place to start would be to hook this up using the face mask and give it a go that way, that way if the worst comes to the worst we can restart the ventilator". Korra nodded and they began to set it up, while Laura watched from Lin's lap, wide eyed and terrified. She had woken everyone up early again by screaming, the result of yet another flashback nightmare.

"hush, Laura" Lin breathed calmly having been told by Laura what the nightmares were about, the one that woke them all up at about four in the morning had been about the deaths of her surrogate mother and biological father, the former of whom had been killed by her own hand and the latter had died protecting her and the other mutants from Transigen, "it's gonna be alright sweetie" Lin whispered repeatedly

"Soñé que estaba de vuelta en ese hospital. estaban perforando agujeros en mí y forzando el adimantium líquido a fundirse con mis huesos!" she explained, she had been shaking too much up to that point to be able to tell Lin what her second nightmare had been about

Lin's face became a dark scowl, "¿Estabas despierto por eso?"

"sí. yo estaba despierto para la fusión, pero cayó inconsciente y sedado pesadamente después"

Lin's knuckles cracked, "I'm seriously gonna have to kill these scumbags who tortured you, Laura"

"you'd do that for me?"

"I'd be beyond happy to. Laura, have you decided on your alternative name yet?"

"si"

"What is it going to be?"

"Garra" Laura replied with a small smile

"Garra..." Lin pondered, "it's certainly memorable and quite apt, what with your claws, sorry, talons"

*

Asami and Kya had finished hooking up the continuous positive airway pressure machine and took a step back. "let's see if Korra's body can manage" Kya muttered before she switched the machine on. "kill the ventilator" Kya commanded and Asami did so

"Hssssss!" Korra hissed excitedly after a few minutes, "i think that's a yes!" Kya yelled triumphantly

"Yes! Now we can get this damn pipe out of her neck!"

"Not so fast, Asami" Kya called out, "i got this, it's a tracheostomy block thing, we can probably try to wean her off the continuous positive airway pressure machine in maybe a week but until then she'd better keep using it. Asami, when Korra gets a bit more mobile it may not be possible for her to wear that mask so I'd like to keep the trach in for now" After Asami removed the ventilator piping, Kya inserted the plug into the tracheostomy and tied it on

"and why can't she go straight from the mask to normal breathing?"

"Asami, I know you're eager to get her well, but she needs a stepped approach and if I'm honest it may be difficult for her, besides it's probably not safe for her to eat food and breathe yet"

Korra looked up hopefully, "yes, Korra I hope you're hungry cos I'm going to do you some soup in a minute"

"th... Th..."

"you're welcome, Korra" Kya smiled sincerely down at the younger woman who beamed up at them from her bed, her eyes sparkling behind her face mask

*

"you have pretty eyes, Korra" Asami blurted out then blushed when Korra's eyes stared into her own. She took a deep breath and bent down, lightly kissing the top of the younger girl's head.

"oh Asami" Lin grinned slightly but soon it was a full blown beam

"I love you, Korra" Asami whispered

"wahey!!!" Lin exclaimed and smiled even wider, as impossible as it seemed for her to be able to do so

"I... I... L... Lov... Love yousss toosssss" it took a lot of effort but Korra managed to force the words out through her mask

"I need to adjust that trach bung thing" Kya muttered from in the nearby kitchen-like area Lin had fashioned out of the rock, she rubbed her arm where Lin hit it and hissed at her to shut up

Asami staggered back away from the bed, the full force of those words registering in the older woman's head "you... Do... Love... Me?"

"Yessssssss" Korra replied and reached out for Asami's face. Asami lifted her hand and helped her put it on her cheek before she moved it to her mouth and kissed it gently

*

Laura hurried up to them both and handed them a folded piece of paper, "para ambos" she whispered

"thank you" Asami whispered

Asami took it and opened it, there was a picture of a heart with two semi-stick figure women holding hands superimposed on it, one of whom had black hair the other had brown, Korra's and Asami's names were underneath the couple and had a heart in between them. Across the top of the heart was the words 'ustedes dos saben que estoy hablando de amor verdadero' which Laura promptly translated, "you two know I'm talkin' about real looove." To Laura's utter devastation, a tear hit the drawing, "you don't like it..." Laura said in a tiny voice, her face falling.

Asami turned to Laura and held the picture close to her chest, "no, Laura, no! Please don't be upset, I do love it! You drew this for me and Korra..." she burst into tears and picked Laura up, hugging her tightly. "Laura, sometimes you cry when you're really happy too" she kissed the girl on her forehead and held her tightly. Lin came up to them and lifted the picture so Korra could see it too, her response was very similar. She looked at it for a few seconds before she too had tears streaming down her face

"Ssssami" Korra hissed and made grabby hands at Asami and Laura, Asami leaned over and placed Laura gently next to Korra before helping her to wrap her arms around Laura who had also began to cry

"Hush, Laura, you're safe here, you can be happy here" Asami soothed the eleven year old in their arms and held her tightly while Korra's arm was just resting on her

"podría quedarme aquí para siempre" Laura sobbed, she held on to both Korra and Asami tightly

"looks like we've got ourselves a granddaughter, Lin" Kya whispered quietly

"it certainly might be a possibility" Lin replied. Kya moved over to Korra and quickly dried her face before reapplying the mask.

"sweet little family" Kya whispered and took a few pictures with a camera

"Laura, you're not going to be alone again, otay?" Asami declared. "you lost your mother and father, yes, but how about having two mothers?"

"Me gustaría eso, me gustaría mucho"

"I'm glad" Asami kissed Laura's forehead and began to sing. "Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you…"

Asami sung the entire song, by which time both Korra and Laura were fast asleep. Asami smiled down at them before she jumped up and, cautious not to wake them both, snuggled in to the family after having put Laura's drawing above their heads so that they could be close to it without risking damaging it. Laura was between Asami and Korra who both had an arm around her, their other hands intertwined and led gently on the young girl's chest.

"aww" Kya squeaked, "a little family"

"and it gives us some us time too" Lin purred before she led Kya away from them and made another rock tent the furthest possible distance she could from the little family

*

A/N: song is Coldplay's 'fix you'


	7. Slow Progress

Korra's recovery was going really slowly, Kya had been working on Korra's lungs alone for two weeks before she was ready to come off the continuous positive air pressure machine and rely on the tracheostomy alone, Lin and Laura helped where they could while the other mutants moved on to the border with Canada having been given the choice; go on to Canada or stay and fight. Rictor had led the vast majority of the young mutants off to Canada. Mako, Bolin and Rebecca, although they had decided to go to Canada, they promised they would return with help if they could get some, the threat of the government was too big for other countries to stick their heads in the sand and it would be suicidal for them to do so. This had left Korra, Lin, Asami, Kya and Laura alone in their cave once again, after a few days Laura began to miss some of the other mutants such as Rebecca but she wouldn't be separated from her new family for anything. She quickly got used to calling Korra 'mommy' and Asami 'mama' but was still nervous around Kya because she and Lin had got off to a bad start and because Kya had triggered Laura's flashbacks on at least two occasions. Lin, on the other hand actively spent a lot of time with the young girl, in fact for the few hours a day Laura wasn't with Asami and Korra, more often than not because Korra was being healed or otherwise treated by Kya and Asami was off hunting, Laura never left Lin's side and Lin doted on Laura, quite naturally becoming the grandmother Laura had never had.

*

"Korra, your breathing is going quite well" Kya smiled widely at the Water Tribe girl after she had been solely tracheostomy dependent for six days

"thanksssssss" due to the tracheostomy, Korra still hissed a bit whenever she spoke

"you're such an amazing girl, Korra" Kya encouraged, "not many people would be as driven as you to get back on their feet again"

"And kick ssssome assssss" Korra smiled widely

"yes, Korra. Kick some ass" Kya laughed, the women had quickly bonded and Korra had called her mom on one or two occasions, second only to Lin of course who was mom every time. Korra had heard Lin's voice every single day, even those early days where they were on the boat floating aimlessly in the middle of the ocean Lin had made it a point to tell Korra everything that she was doing in an effort to help the other woman

"hey girls!" Asami crawled back in to the cave using the tunnel Lin had left unblocked, the mouth of the cave had remained sealed since Lin brought Kya back in nearly three weeks before

"hey, Asami" Kya called back while Korra simply beamed at Asami, words were never enough to express Korra's adoration for the older girl.

"Hi, Kya" Asami dumped the animals she had caught and killed in their makeshift kitchen area, a couple of birds, a few squirrels and a deer. "you look satisfied, Kya"

"I am... Korra's body is on the mend, her lungs have nearly fully recovered and..." Kya flashed a rare but brilliant smile, "i think she's nearly ready to come off the trach"

"Really?! Oh Korra that's fantastic!!!" Asami cried and ran to hug Korra, she then hugged Kya for a while.

"Korra's also sitting unaided for longer than she was able to even a few days ago"

"oh Korra! I'm so proud of you!!"

"she's nearly ready to take her first tentative steps" Kya smiled wider than before, over the moon with Korra's progress

"Korra!!!" Asami wiped her tear away and hugged Korra even tighter.

"I think it's time we looked at those designs of yours, Asami"

"the designs for those body splints?" Asami asked

"yup" Kya nodded while Korra stared in wonder at Asami, amazed she had been so lucky. Korra fell asleep most nights to Asami's singing if Laura was there with them or if Laura wasn't there, the sound of Asami's voice retelling the story of how she escaped Republic City to be with them for the fiftieth time. Korra loved that story so much because it meant so much to her. Korra was always amazed at how much Asami had been willing to sacrifice for a chance to be with Korra again and since their mutual confessions they had got even closer than before. Unbeknownst to Korra, Asami had even been attending a college part time to help her design and make some body splints for Korra to use to help her sit, walk and stand.

"what body ssssplintsssss?" Korra asked, her voice was getting more stable and her stamina increasing day by day even though the hissing remained

"I've been designing some full body splints for you to use to help you with your walking, Korra"

"how?"

"I've used some of the money I took from my father" Asami explained eagerly

"but Asssami" Korra protested, "that money issss yourssss"

"To spend how I choose, Korra"

"you wanted to sssspend the money on me?"

"yes, Korra"

*

"Asami, her spine is badly deformed, I don't think this straight brace will do the trick"

"Shit!" Asami and Kya had been pouring over Asami's designs for Korra's braces for several hours now, Korra had been tucked up in bed early next to Laura who had fallen asleep quicker when she was next to Korra than she had done before

"Those fuckers really didn't look after her did they?!" Lin hissed angrily

"no, sweetie they did not" Kya replied

"I'll kill the lot of them!" Lin spat in her rage

"I know you will... Right now though, we just have to get Korra up and about, then we can worry about the murdering"

"Gran-Gran?" Laura whispered from the darkness

Lin got up and walked over to where Laura was with Korra. "yes, Laura?" her enraged look had softened immediately and she knelt down next to her adopted granddaughter

"I'm scared"

"why sweetie?"

"What if mommy never gets better? I'm scared for her and scared that she'll never be well"

"oh Laura" Lin picked her up carefully so she didn't wake Korra who was sleeping peacefully and walked back over to the makeshift desk that Asami and Kya were still concentrating over.

"hey, Laura" Kya smiled at the young girl and she smiled nervously back

"what are you doing awake, Laura?"

"Mama" Laura reached out to her and Asami took her

"what's wrong sweetheart?"

"I'm scared... Scared mommy will never get better"

"oh Laura, don't you worry about that... Your mom will be fine... See this?" she indicated the mess of paperwork that covered the entire table and Laura nodded, "this is Korra's ticket to getting better"

"what is it mama?"

"It's a powered full body brace for your mommy, it'll help her sit, stand and walk"

"She's getting stronger though... She can sit?"

"Have you noticed how her back is curved to the side?"

"yes"

"the people who had trapped her didn't take very good care of her while she was in a coma so she's got a lot of physical issues from that alone on top of the issues she's got purely from being comatose for sixteen years"

"Fuckers" Laura spat, her adimantium claws extended from her body and she clenched her fists

"i know, sweetheart, but they'll pay for their crimes... I swear to you they will pay"

"I know mama" Laura yawned and curled into Asami

"time for bed, sweetheart" Asami whispered. she took Laura back over to the bed, tucked her back into her sleeping bag and made it halfway back to the desk, she looked back over her shoulder while she walked away and saw Korra smile and turn toward Laura in her sleep, Asami crept back over and put Korra's arm over Laura, Korra managed to move her arm so Laura was wrapped up in a half hug

"I love you Laura, my daughter" Korra mumbled in her sleep and Laura's face shone with tears, not fearful mourning tears as she had shed before she had got electrocuted by Asami but happy tears as she and the others had shed when they adopted Laura as their daughter after Laura gave them the picture of both of them.

"sweet dreams" Asami whispered to both of them before she crept back to the desk where her designs were. "i have to finish these tonight" she explained to Lin and Kya

"We'll stay up with you then" Lin replied


	8. Asami's Devotion: Part I

Korra and Laura were cuddled up early in the morning, Laura had finally slept through the night without waking up screaming her head off and inevitably waking the entire family. Asami had left a mere few minutes before to go to the engineering workshops in the local university she was a member of staff at. She had begun studying basic engineering but had shown such skill that she had already obtained another undergraduate degree at that university and had done so exceedingly quickly, albeit under a different name than her original ones, Emerald Shu. Asami had completed her degree in under a year, launching herself straight into her final project while simultaneously attending second and third year courses, she then moved through two or three different master's degrees and finally her PhD. After a year and a half and while she was in the final stages of her first master's degree, she was invited to lecture at the university, an offer she politely turned down since she feared it might bring too much attention to her from people she didn't want to find her. The Dean of the engineering faculty wouldn't take no for an answer and instead offered her a position of technician, yes, a lower paid job than an actual lecturer, but with hopefully more anonymity. Asami reluctantly agreed to her new role figuring it would be useful to have the fully equipped university workshop available to her should she, Lin or Korra need it. Asami sighed with relief when she got into work that day, immensely relieved after all that she had agreed to work at the university. Several people saw her enter the workshop and avoided her. She had her intense look of concentration on her face and nobody was going to interfere. Eventually, after hours of work, Asami locked away the things she had been working on and went to get some breakfast. "Emerald" her co-worker nodded an acknowledgement.

"Elizabeth" Asami nodded back

"You've been busy all morning"

"yeah been making something important, not exactly the latest in new innovations but something important nonetheless"

"can I see?" Elizabeth was a wheelchair user who may actually gain something from Asami's project so she nodded nervously

"let's finish breakfast first, huh?"

"Of course" Elizabeth wasn't as gifted as Asami but after many years attempting to make things better for herself and other disabled people, she had a lot of experience and knowledge.

*

Elizabeth and Asami returned to the workshop where Asami pulled out the almost finished leg braces she had been working on the whole morning. "this?" Elizabeth gasped and nearly dragged herself out of her wheelchair to take a closer look.

"yes, Eliz"

"these are ankle foot orthoses, although I admit I'm unfamiliar with these bits here" she indicated the half finished wiring and motors as well as the control circuitry

"Those are to help power the suit" Asami explained, "the motors are going to work to make movement easier for the wearer, but they're not going to take over completely like other exosuits I've seen and studied"

"who are they for?" Elizabeth asked

Asami looked around cautiously and turned to Elizabeth with an air of nervousness that hadn't been there before, "a friend"

"must be a pretty important friend, Emerald"

"They are"

"show me the designs, Emerald, I'd love to help" Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly

"alright..." Asami pulled the designs out and spread them across the table. One design was of the whole body brace and there were in depth designs of each part, even the core trunk brace designed to fit around Korra's middle

"someone's been busy..." Elizabeth pondered, she moved over to the designs and Asami breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't written Korra's name or even her nickname on the drawings. "these are incredible!!" Elizabeth poured over the designs while Asami fiddled with the next CAD design on the nearby computer. "no wonder you did that orthosis design course... You've always been planning to make these, haven't you?"

"Well... Uh, no, not really"

"but you're amazing at this!"

"thanks, Eliz"

"You're one driven woman... I caught sight of your resume the other day... I don't think anyone else in this department, or even the university is as qualified as you. Three master's degrees, a qualification to become a Certified Orthotist, your PhD... I mean you're literally an engineering genius. I was slightly confused about the orthotist's qualification but now I understand"

"Thank you" Asami had a faint tinge of red on her cheeks now, to be complimented by Lin was one thing but to be complimented by someone outside of their family was almost too much for her

"You're welcome" Elizabeth smiled widely before she became serious, "tell me about your friend's needs. I want to help"

"Uh... Eliz, I don't want to impose"

"nonsense I can help at least with the manufacturing process even if I'm not qualified to make decisions about the braces themselves" she reached down and tapped the back of her lower legs

Asami smiled widely and to Elizabeth's surprise, hugged her. "thank you. Well, my friend was in a coma for sixteen years and her health really declined, I don't believe the people who kept her comatose were properly trained considering that her back was heavily deformed after the years. All her muscles are incredibly weak after the prolonged period of inactivity, hence the braces, to support her, and the powered joints to make it easier for her to move. There are sensors to detect an increase of pressure on one side of the orthosis which then instructs the motors to move the powered joints in that direction. Both legs and arms are atrophied hence why she needs them in full braces, her spine is about forty to fifty degrees out"

"Scoliosis?" Elizabeth asked to which Asami nodded

"and she's been fed by a tube and kept breathing through a tracheostomy for all these years..."

"oh wow... Poor woman" Elizabeth noted that Asami was slightly tearful, a new look on the woman but one that only made her look more determined and caring than she had been before. "what about... Uh... Other things?" Elizabeth whispered cautiously, again looking down. Elizabeth had spent some time in a medically induced coma after her accident and had dealt with the associated problems, although fortunately for her they were not permanent

"you mean... Bowels and bladder?" Elizabeth nodded, "well... Uh..." Asami blushed, "she has a vague approximation of a stoma and she's catheterised"

"A vague approximation?"

"Well, yes" Asami looked around even more nervously. She was unsure how much would be safe to reveal. Korra did have a stoma in the sense that she didn't get rid of waste the same way she would have done normally because the adimantium box would've made it near impossible to change a normal stoma bag so she instead had a surgically implanted tube that led to a bag on the outside of the adimantium box, as did the catheter. To her relief, Elizabeth nodded and moved on to one of the more detailed drawings of one of Korra's leg braces

*

Asami and Elizabeth got to work, between them they finished the designs and printed the majority of the braces using a combination of laser cutters and 3D printers before nine o'clock that evening. "phew" Elizabeth sighed. "that was hard work"

"thank you so much for your help, Elizabeth"

"you're welcome, Emerald" Elizabeth helped Asami clear up the last of the mess they had made in the lab and Asami packed the braces away carefully

"i have a car" Elizabeth stated. "I know I don't look like I'm able to drive but I can. The car deals with the speed and stuff and I have an emergency brake I can press if I need to but other than that I can drive a car even after my accident"

"What are you getting at?"

"i want to help you take this stuff back to wherever you live"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea" Asami whispered quickly

"Nonsense" Elizabeth put the box of braces on her lap and wheeled away, "you went these back you'll have to come with me" she laughed

"fffffffu..." Asami muttered, this was something she had wanted to avoid. "Lin's not gonna be happy about this..." she frowned

Asami relented in the end and allowed herself to be driven back to near their cave. She was thankful that the path to the cave would be too difficult for Elizabeth's car to make it so she was forced to leave her at the base of the small rocky hill. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at six in the morning!" Elizabeth called, Asami merely rolled her eyes and yawned. "it was nice getting to know you properly, Emerald!"

Asami waved back before she moved up the small hill and located the concealed entrance to the system of tunnels and caves they had taken refuge in. Asami pushed the box through the concealed hole first, then crawled in after it. She stood and walked quickly back to where the cave was located, pushed the box through another awkward crawl space and followed it in. She found herself in the antechamber which concealed their main living quarters behind something that looked to be solid rock, Asami simply walked forward, through the illusion and into their cave. "I'm home!" she called

Laura ran up to her. "mama!" she dragged Asami forward into the light from the fire in the centre of the cave, Lin had drilled holes into other caves to ensure they had enough air and a way of getting rid of any toxic fumes from the fire

"hey, Laura" Asami whispered and returned her hug

"Asami" Lin nodded at her, looking stern but her face became a smile soon enough

"Mom" Asami ran to her and hugged her, dragging Laura along with her, "how's Korra?"

"she's doing alright. Kya managed to acquire some more supplies today, including normal stoma bags" Lin smiled, "she's just removing the old pipe now. How was your day?"

"great! I've finished the braces, or at least the physical supportive aspect of them, I still have to do most of the electronics"

"good work" Lin smiled widely at her daughter and hugged her

"Can't wait to try these out on Korra" Asami whispered with tears in her eyes, proud of her achievement

*

Korra and Kya were having a whispered conversation, Korra's tracheostomy had nearly healed completely and her stamina had improved markedly since she had come off the ventilator, she was sitting supported now for minutes at a time. "i wanna go home" Korra whispered

"I know, Korra" Kya replied sadly

"ow!" Korra yelped when the stoma tube was pulled free after the stitches had been cut

"Sorry, Korra" Kya whispered and wiped Korra's stoma clean before she attached one of the bags she had acquired.

"I wanna be normal" Korra sighed sadly

"i know Korra, I'll have to research how to reconnect your innards correctly, might need to get a doctor to do that properly"

Korra blanched slightly at the mention of a doctor, her last experience with doctors hadn't gone well after all. Kya simply hugged her and Asami walked up with the box. "let's fit you with these" Asami said gently, pulling out Korra's plastic ankle foot orthosis braces. She placed them on Korra's lower legs and strapped them on, Korra pouted the whole time she was being manhandled and pushed around. Eventually Asami had Korra's leg braces strapped on and she moved on to the knee portion, she bent Korra's legs up so her feet were flat before she placed the braces into position and strapped them on too, joining them up to the ankle foot orthosis with the two plastic pieces that were designed to lock in to the ankle foot orthoses. Asami finally called Lin over, she and Kya held Korra in a standing position while Asami attached Korra's hip brace the same way she had joined the knee and leg braces. Like the knee braces, Korra's hip braces were separate pieces of plastic, but unlike the knee braces which has two parts, the hip brace had three parts. One part was above her hips and one each on her upper thighs. This time the three pieces were joined together by multiple flexible straps, Asami had designed them so the straps could be pulled in tighter or loosened by motors in such a way to allow Korra's hip joints to move however they needed to, it could also be locked into place in a similar way to her knee brace which would only allow forward and backward motion so when she walked it would be easier for her to be able to walk without risking her legs giving way to the side. Asami then told Lin and Kya she didn't need their help for a few moments and instead went about putting Korra's arm braces on. Like her leg braces her arm braces only allowed one direction of movement on her elbow but allowed nearly the full rotation on her wrists and shoulders using the same strap system. Finally, Asami asked Lin and Kya to hold Korra up while she put her body brace on. Unlike the other braces, this was one solid piece of plastic that was designed to help support and even correct her badly curved back. It snapped into place with the holes lining up perfectly over Korra's stoma bag, catheter and feeding tube. The final piece, Korra's compression orthosis had been measured for and ordered from the company that manufactured them. "there you go, Korra" Asami declared proudly after she had locked the arm and hip braces in to her trunk brace

"thanksssss Asssami" Korra's hiss had gone down but it was still slightly noticeable

"Do you want to see if it helps with your walking?"

Korra nodded timidly before she smiled, Asami locked Korra's knee braces and her hip brace into position before she nodded at Korra, Kya and Lin. Kya and Lin took hold of Korra under her arms and helped her wriggle forward on to the edge of her bed and stand for the first time in many years. "yay! Mommy! You're standing!" Laura cheered happily, over the moon that her mother was able to stand. Laura gently took her mother's hand and held it gently. Asami picked her up gently so Laura could kiss her mother's forehead which she did while beaming proudly at her mother

Asami smiled at her daughter's reaction to Korra's success and Lin and Kya nodded their heads proudly. They were both proud of both Korra and Asami. "way to go, kid!!" Lin nodded and smiled at Asami, she then turned to Korra and embraced her. "Korra, sweetie, I'm so fucking proud of you!!"

Korra burst into tears and slumped into Lin's embrace, enjoying both the body contact and the feeling of standing. "tomorrow me and a colleague will finish the braces" Asami declared, "then you will be able to walk and sit and stand"

Korra's face became one of true joy but Lin frowned sightly. "that's why I didn't feel your approach til you got to the hill, I nearly sealed us in because I felt a Satomobile"

"Lin, quit your worrying, she's only a colleague she doesn't know I live in a cave or that I'm with the Officer, the Doc and Glowbes"

"Hmph" Lin scowled

"trust me on this Lin, besides I wouldn't have ever finished the braces today had I not let her help... Tomorrow all we've got to do is the electronics"

"alright Asami, but if she betrays you I slit her throat"

"I have no doubt about that fact"

*

"Laura, sweetie, time for bed" Asami walked up to the enclosed area that hid their makeshift toilet and their bath

"Otay mama" Laura called back and came out after letting the water drain away from the bath, she was wearing another one of Asami's old t shirts that was again way too large for her. She hopped into her sleeping bag and snuggled down, Korra was already in bed but she lay awake, waiting for her daughter to join her. "mommy" Laura sighed and hugged into her before falling asleep almost immediately

"Go to bed, Asami" Kya instructed

"But I have to double check the designs?"

"No, Asami" it was Lin's turn to speak, "you've never made a single mistake before, your plans are good enough and ready to be built" she looked down at the box of braces Asami had already finished, "besides, those braces are amazingly brilliantly crafted and are perfect so I'm absolutely certain the electronics will be too"

"Fine, moms, I'll go to bed" Asami turned away and went about her nightly routine, as did Lin and Kya. They were all in bed before ten, a first. They all slept soundly for the second night, Korra and Asami slept in the same sleeping bag with their daughter on Korra's other side in her own sleeping bag. Lin and Kya also slept in their shared sleeping bag.


	9. Asami's Devotion: Part II

Asami was up at the crack of dawn again, once she had worked herself out of Korra's death grip and Laura's gentle cuddle she hurriedly washed up and dressed before she put her makeup on. she then grabbed her glove just in case and the box of braces. There was a toot from a car horn and she quickly emerged from the crawl space she had been navigating. "six already? Crap, I guess it took longer to apply my makeup than I thought"

"Emerald!" Elizabeth called

"Eliz, I'm sorry did I keep you waiting?"

"I've only been here about ten seconds, are you ready to go? Put those on the back seat and let's get going"

"Thank you" Asami smiled at the other woman and put the braces down, securing them with a seat belt

"So... Tell me how it was? Last night, you couldn't wait to get home to try the braces"

"They were perfect... She stood for the first time in over sixteen years" Asami teared up

"and tonight she'll be walking" Elizabeth smiled kindly. "thanks to you"

"I honestly can't wait... She was thrilled that she was able to just stand... To be able to walk, I think that'll be a dream come true for her" Asami wiped her tear away

"Emerald, I know your secret" Elizabeth confessed quietly

"what?" _oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit_

"you two are lovers... You're a lesbian"

"What?" Asami felt like sighing with relief even though she didn't dare, "yeah" she chuckled, "and bi actually"

"It's otay, Emerald" Elizabeth smiled at her, "that's who you are"

"thanks, Eliz"

"You ought to bring her to work one day when you've got her on her feet... Sorta a bring your girlfriend to work kinda day"

"Maybe" Asami smiled but it was more of a grimace

"Or not?" Elisabeth's face fell a bit

"I'm sorry that may be very difficult, she struggles with new people after... What happened to her"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Elizabeth sighed

"she can be a handful when she gets scared, or angry" Asami laughed, "when we told her she'd been out for sixteen years she got pretty upset, even in that weak state my Glowbes would've been more than a match for most people"

"Glowbes?"

Asami blushed, "sorry it's a nickname, her eyes glow they're so blue, even at night her eyes can pretty much light a room" Asami chuckled at her own joke, Elizabeth didn't know just how true that statement was

"I've got to meet this mystery girl" Elizabeth smiled, "what's her name?"

"She doesn't really have one, she was very young when she went under and when we got her out she wasn't able to speak because of the coma and we'd come to call her Glowbes even before she woke so..."

"Got her out?"

"yeah we found her one day in an ill equipped pseudo hospital" _shit_

"so you broke her out?"

"kinda..."

"Is that why she has scoliosis?!" Elizabeth asked angrily, "because the people there didn't know how to take care of her?!"

"kinda"

Elizabeth hit her steering wheel in her anger, "putain de cochons malades!" she exclaimed and jumped when her car horn blared when she unwittingly caught the button for the horn, the horn also surprised several pedestrians who shook their fists. Laughing, Elizabeth turned to Asami who had a blank stare. "let me guess, you don't speak French?" Asami shook her head, "i called the people who put your friend... Glowbes into a coma without the proper training fucking sick pigs"

 _If only you knew how true that statement is..._ Asami simply nodded, "that they were" she whispered sadly

*

"well here we are... You grab the braces I'll get my chair out" Elizabeth smiled, "i would've had lectures today but another lecturer, Zhu Li, owed me a favour so I asked her to cover for me"

"Eliz... You don't have to do that"

"I know I don't have to... I want to" Elizabeth smiled, "let's go to the workshop and start the process of making those circuit boards"

"alright... At lunch point out Zhu Li for me so I can buy her a coffee?"

"Sure"

 _Wow_ , Asami thought, _this Elizabeth person is pretty awesome... I regret not really meeting her before_. Even though Elizabeth had been at the university since before Asami became a student there, they had never really spoken except from a few muttered apologies on the occasion they bumped into one another in a corridor

"the circuit boards will take about half an hour under this ultraviolet light then we can put them in the acid to finish them off" Elizabeth advised Asami while she was busy connecting up the myriad of small but powerful motors to the plastic shells of the braces

"right" Asami replied. She had just finished sticking the four motors to the top half of Korra's second knee brace and had just started sticking the eight motors to Korra's hip brace. Asami had to make sure that the glue that she had used to supplement the metal screw on casing had dried before she could put any tension on the motor such as the tension that would result from attaching the reel that allowed the fabric straps to tighten. Asami had already glued the sensors into position and passed the wires through the hole

"I hope you have a steady hand, Emerald"

"the steadiest, why?"

"Attaching all those cables could be a pain in the ass" Emerald sighed, "the machine can solder the components to the board" she indicated another machine, "but we need to manually solder the wires from the sensors and to the motors"

Asami sighed, "and I had hoped to be done by lunchtime" she shook her head, "i haven't even looked at my email inbox or actual mail inbox for about two days now"

Elizabeth laughed, "i go weeks without checking mine"

"I'll check my mailbox at lunch"

"Expecting something?"

"yes. One of those fabric Lycra compassion orthosis thingies"

"ahh, I've heard they can really help?"

"dunno yet I thought it'd be worth a try though what with that brace mainly being to correct her scoliosis"

"have you thought about surger..." Elizabeth sighed, "oh right, yeah... Glowbes doesn't like doctors"

Asami sighed, "was hoping to avoid needing doctors, although it may be inevitable, her stoma"

"well if it's any help, I'll see if my doctor would be willing to help... He's in Canada though so it may be difficult to get Glowbes there and he may charge you since... You're not even American are you?"

"not exactly" Asami whispered

"well anyway, the offer stands..."

"Thank you Eliz" a timer started to beep over by the etching station where the circuit boards were being exposed to the ultraviolet light. "crap" Asami and Elizabeth ran over, removed the circuit boards, of which there were a fair few and, using tongs, lowered them into the acid. "I'll call our mom and ask her what she thinks"

"Your mom?"

"Yeah, well she's not actually our biological mother but we both lost our families at a very young age" Asami explained, "she's the most loyal, caring and selfless person I've ever met" Asami blinked back tears, thankful of how Lin did what she did to save Korra from Tenzin, Noatak, Unalaq, Tarrlok, Raiko and her own father.

"She sounds wonderful"

"she is" Asami nodded, "as is our other mother, we call her the Doc, she's not a qualified doctor or anything but she's quite handy to have around anyway and her medical skills are quite impressive for someone who never got trained"

"What do you call your other mom?"

"the Officer" Asami smiled, "she used to be a cop"

Elizabeth nodded her head and started working on the arm braces, she mounted the motors and stuck the sensors in place before she went off to get some coffee for them both. "here" she handed Asami her coffee

"Thanks" Asami replied, _this stuff is still vile but I guess I need the caffeine_

"you're welcome" Elizabeth checked on the circuit boards then moved to the machine she was referring to earlier, this machine was programmed to move the components into position and solder them on, she had adapted it to use the same prototyping software that they used to design the circuit boards so all she had to do was export the designs for the board to the printer so she could print the mask that was used to protect the circuit from the ultraviolet light and then export it again to this machine so it could place and solder the components automatically

"I have to admit your work adapting the software for that assembly machine has made this a whole lot easier, even if it may not have been entirely legal"

"i did consider taking the improvements to the company but decided against it because of the law"

"shame... Their loss" Asami rolled her eyes

*

Eventually, the beeping started again and they both pulled the boards from the acid and wiped then dry. "there we go, five fully prepared circuit boards" Elizabeth declared, she showed them to Asami then took them to the assembly machine and placed them inside the machine, the bar code she had stuck next to each board identified it to the machine so it would drill the correct holes and fit the correct components. "lunch time" Elizabeth and Asami had decided that while the machine was cutting and mounting components, the majority of which were the smaller surface mount ones, they'd go and grab some lunch. Asami had finished writing the programs for the control microchips before she began assembly so all they had to do was solder the wires from the sensors and motors, program the microchips and fit them. Korra would have to carry around a backpack with a sizable battery in it but Asami was confident that after she got used to wearing the braces, she'd be alright.

"Let's go, I'm starving" Asami groaned after she had locked away the braces again to make sure nobody fiddled with them

"No breakfast again, Emerald?"

"didn't have time"

Asami and Elizabeth got their food and retreated as far away from the crowd and queues as they could. "mom" Asami smiled when she spoke, she was holding the phone close and speaking as quietly as she could

"Emerald" Lin's voice was clear even though she was probably still hiding in the cave. Asami had a few seconds of worry for Laura but she quickly realised they wouldn't leave her on her own for long

"one of the colleagues here at the university have offered their doctor's services to help Glowbes with her back and innards"

"can he be trusted?"

"She's that colleague I told you about yesterday"

"I see..."

"and as for her doctor, he actually seems competent"

"I see"

"I think it would be a good idea" Kya had been listening in on their conversation. "there's only so much I can do and Glowbes is getting pretty sick of the pain her stoma causes"

"i defer to your judgement" Lin nodded

"Where's Laura?" Asami asked

"Laura is fine"

"ah alright I just don't like leaving her"

"I know... Bring this colleague of yours to our home and we can go from there"

"are you sure it's wise to bring Elizabeth there?"

"She'll meet Glowbes eventually if we're going to be using her doctor, and we could use a car"

"point taken, I'll discuss it with her back at the workshop it's a bit public here"

"alright, Emerald, I'll see you later, I love you"

"I love you too mom, give Glowbes a kiss from me" Asami hung up and took the SIM card out of the phone, snapping it in half before she smiled at Elizabeth. "mom wants to meet you" Asami explained

"Oh?" Elizabeth was confused

"she wants to make sure you won't hurt her daughter"

"I wouldn't dream of doing something like that"

"I know that, but mom is more careful and after everything she's seen, I don't blame her. So... Will you join us for a while after we clock off?"

"I'll meet Glowbes?"

"Uh huh, and Doc and Officer"

"yes, I have nothing planned tonight and it'd help if I could get a look at Glowbes' needs so I can direct you to the correct doctor"

"thank you, Elizabeth"

"You're welcome" Elizabeth and Asami finished their meal in silence, and after they had got rid of a few students that wanted to speak to Elizabeth, they returned to the workshop.

*

"Construction of the circuit boards is complete" Elizabeth called

"great!" Asami and Eleanor sat down and began soldering the myriad of wires to the boards. Eventually, after nearly two hours they had finished

"looks good" Elizabeth commented

"Yup" Asami nodded and glued the boards into the boxes they had built on the 3D printer, she finally glued the boxes to the braces and waterproofed them. "job done" Asami smiled. "this should help get Glowbes back on her feet"

There was a knock on the door and one of the security people walked in. "excuse me ladies" the man she was with, a police officer asked, "but have either of you two seen this woman?"

"Uhhh... No?" Asami replied, her voice was perfectly stable and calm but Elizabeth noticed she had blinked three times. after spending hours working on frustrating tasks like waiting for the 3D printer to finish, she had learnt all the signs Asami showed when she was stressed

"nope. She's been with me all day and I've not ever seen this woman"

"Alright, but if you do see her call the police... She's a vulnerable adult and she's believed to have been kidnapped"

"Will do" Asami nodded and they left

"that was her wasn't it?" Elizabeth gestured after them, "the girl in the photo?"

Asami sighed and nodded. "they must've traced the call... But how?" it came to her within seconds, "shit!" she gasped

"what?"

"I risked it all... I used Laura's real name"

"who's Laura?"

"Someone we bumped into"

"Emerald we've got to get you home and get Glowbes suited up, for all we know they've traced the other end of the call"

"They shouldn't be able to but... You're not going to turn me in?"

"no!" Elizabeth hissed, "let's go shall we?!" Asami nodded and carried the braces out of the workshop and towards the parking lot. "if we are stopped say the braces are a project I've been working on for myself..." Elizabeth, who had left her phone and wallet in the safe in the workshop waited for Asami to nod, "we'll be going past the staff rec room and your office anyway so you might as well pick up whatever mail you've got" Asami nodded again and quickly checked her office for mail, she let out a little squeal and ran out carrying a small package. "is that it?" Elizabeth whispered

"Yes, now let's get out of here"

"stay calm, Emerald" Emerald had realised that her fake name may have been exposed and that only added to the stress

 _No more phone calls_ Asami swore to herself, _hopefully the thing I set up back home will deflect the trace for long enough for us to get back_.Asami and Elizabeth packed themselves into the car, Elizabeth handed Asami her card to unlock the car park gate, Asami swiped it and they were free. "first, since you're now pretty much in it as deep as we are if we're caught, my name's not Emerald, it's Asami"

"Asami?" Elizabeth looked over in surprise, "you've been lying this whole time?"

"yes, I'm sorry, it was necessary to..."

"I understand, Asami, but you're only about seventy miles from the border with Canada?"

"Four miles" Asami corrected her, "but we've already lugged Glowbes... Fuck it, Korra, that's her name"

"I thought you knew. I was right"

"Well anyway, we had already lugged her across the United States, from where mom hid in Mexico and I joined them there, all the way to here, four miles from the border. That's a distance of three thousand one hundred miles or just over." Asami sighed, "after it took seven years to cross Mexico and America we both wanted a break and to try to work out how to get Korra out of the cage she was in at the time. She was released from that cage really quite recently, from a few weeks to maybe a month ago, I lose track"

"you've been on the go for years?"

"Yes, Eliz, years" Asami took a deep breath. "it took mom and Korra two years to cross the sea from Republic City to the Mexican coast, then they stayed in Mexico for a while before they contacted me, I followed in their footsteps but it didn't take me as long to cross the ocean. It then took seven years for us to do that three thousand mile trip and we've been hiding here for a fair old time... The whole thing has lasted over sixteen years" she paused and looked around, "there's a good little wood where you can hide the car in that valley over there" Asami explained

"Don't you have a garage?"

"Never needed one" Asami gestured for Elizabeth to keep driving, eventually they found a cave to hide the car in and walked back to where the entrance was hidden. "shit... Wait here" Asami groaned, she disappeared in through a hole that Elizabeth couldn't have ever fitted her wheelchair through and she thought she heard yelling from inside

*

"The fuck?" Elizabeth exclaimed, the rock face had literally changed shape in front of her eyes, there was now a nice wheelchair sized hole for her to wheel through.

"Trust me, if you've led them here you'll be the first to die" a middle aged woman growled after she had sealed the hole she had created for Elizabeth with a flick of her hand

"Mom!" Asami exclaimed and blushed, Lin moved aside the second wall but didn't bother with the third. Elizabeth was about to question her when Lin walked through the wall as if it wasn't there. "hologram" Asami explained

"wow"

"so Eliz, welcome to our little home" Asami smiled at the other woman's bemused expression

"From the way you dress and look it's impossible to tell you're a cave dweller" Elizabeth muttered

"I told her she was spending too much time on makeup"

"Eliz, meet Kya. Kya, meet Eliz"

"hey" both women nodded at each other

"mom... I told you before it's about keeping up appearances... Laura?" she had noticed the little hand in Kya's hand

"mama" Laura's voice came from behind Kya

"Laura, I brought a friend home from work, she's not going to hurt you sweetie"

"Or mom?"

"No Laura, she won't hurt anyone"

Laura emerged from behind Kya but gripped her hand tightly enough for Kya to wince slightly. "Laura and me kinda had a little heart to heart" Kya explained to Asami

"that's wonderful!" Asami exclaimed excitedly

"hola" Elizabeth whispered the single word to Laura who smiled cautiously. "aww no eres la chica más bonita?"

"gracias, pero Glowbes y Emerald son los más bonitos"

"Laura?"

"mama?"

"what's going on?" a voice echoed from the other side of the room, interrupting whatever Asami was going to say to Laura

"Korra!" Asami exclaimed and ran up to the bed where Korra was lying

"what's going on Asami?"

"I brought a friend home from work"

"Oh, right. Do I get to meet her?"

"sure, Eliz!" Elizabeth wheeled herself over to the bed, "meet Korra, my girlfriend. Korra, meet Elizabeth, a colleague at my university"

"nice to meet you" Korra smiled and indicated she wanted to shake Elizabeth's hand with a nod, Elizabeth took her hand and shook it

"wow, Asami... There's so much I don't know" Laura had jumped up onto the bed and was sitting next to Korra, braiding her hair. She looked over to Kya who was inspecting the braces, caught her eye and they both smiled

"it seems I've missed a fair bit also"

*

"I'll make tea" Lin called, "you get Korra suited up and she can join us"

"of course!" Asami ran over and grabbed the box of braces, she pulled them all out and placed them gently on the floor next to the bed.

"is this it?" Korra smiled nervously

"This is the day you start to get better, Korra" Asami smiled. She tore open the package that she had picked up from her office and pulled out the compression orthosis. Coughing, Asami moved forward and everyone else left the bed area. "alright everyone, she's dressed" Asami called, Kya and Lin were the first in with Laura between them, holding their hands followed closely by Elizabeth. Korra was dressed in the skin tight Lycra Orthosis under her pajamas and the difference was immediately apparent, she sat up a little straighter and was a little bit stronger now her entire body was wrapped up in this new orthosis.

"wow, Korra the difference is incredible" Elizabeth stated, taking in Korra's feeding button, her stoma and her catheter, as well as the curvature of her spine and the scar on her neck from the tracheostomy.

"Would you mind helping me?" Asami whispered to Elizabeth

"No, of course not" she moved closer and grabbed Korra's left leg while Asami grabbed her right, both women quickly had Korra's braces on and like the previous evening, Lin and Kya then came over to help hold Korra up while they put her body brace and hip brace on

"holy shit" Elizabeth whispered once they had finished, "i can't believe it but you actually make that look good!"

"Water Tribe" Korra winked at Elizabeth

They made quick work of fitting Korra's other braces and Asami reached over and took a box in her hand. "ready?" she asked and Korra nodded. Asami flicked the switch and several lights on the brace came on. "it works!!" Asami shouted

"try and move, mommy" Laura encouraged

"Right" Korra strained to lift her right arm and slowly, very slowly, the brace sensed it and began to move her arm in the direction she wanted it to go

"Yay! Mommy! It's working!!" Laura ran up to Korra, wrapped her arms around her and cuddled into her, Korra moved her arms so she was embracing Laura, Korra smiled a content genuinely happy smile before Laura nuzzled into the embrace and they both cried happy tears at finally being able to cuddle properly

A/N: consider this two part upload an apology for me not being very active the past few days


	10. Escaping North Dakota

"Korra" Asami's voice brought Korra out of her happy little bubble

"I'm afraid we have to move" Lin sighed when Korra reluctantly let go of Laura

"do we have to?"

"Yes, Korra, we do"

"I was beginning to think of this cave as home" Korra whispered regretfully

"i know, Korra. We can always come back here after we've got you fixed up"

"What do you mean?"

"we're going to reattach all your innards, Korra. You'll be able to go to the toilet like anyone else after the surgeries" Elizabeth spoke gently to Korra and smiled reassuringly. "I've been where you are now, after my accident"

Laura smiled nervously up at the newcomer, "are you mommy and Mama going alone?"

"No, we're all going, Laura" Lin whispered and the young girl let out a breath

"I didn't want to be left behind" Laura mumbled

"oh Laura" Asami wrapped her arms around Laura and cuddled her, Korra also pulled Laura in for a tight cuddle

"we aren't going to leave you anywhere sweetie" Korra promised

"We love you"

"Thank you" Laura cuddled into both of her parents and smiled

"Adorable kid" Elizabeth muttered to Kya

"yes. But also pretty powerful" Kya replied

"Korra, we need to get you walking far enough for us to get you to the car" Asami said enthusiastically, this was the true test of her labours

"A... Alright"

"you got this, kid"

"come on Korra you can do it!"

"Korra you mustn't be afraid of what could happen. Don't think, do" Elizabeth encouraged

Korra sat up, using the power of the motors to help pull her up. In a matter of seconds she was sitting unaided. Asami had shown her how to lock and unlock her hip braces and she did so quickly, unlocking the braces to allow her hips their full rotation. She still had to wait a few seconds while the motors kicked in but soon enough she was sitting on the edge of the bed she had been trapped on for years. "wow... 'Sami..." Korra breathed, her voice full of love.

"come on, Korra. Nearly there"

"Alright" Korra pulled herself forward and slowly stood. She remembered to lock her braces at the last moment but then she was standing for the first time in sixteen years

"Yay! Mommy!" Laura exclaimed and wrapped her arms around Korra's waist

"way to go, Korra!" Lin exclaimed, she ran up to Korra and put her hand on her shoulder

"Thanks mom" Korra blushed

"take a step" Asami ordered

"anything for you, sweetie" Korra smiled. She pushed her leg forward and smiled widely when she was able to take a step. The brace didn't do all the work but it did enough to allow Korra to take her first tentative steps. After a few steps, Korra turned and nearly fell down but caught herself. She walked back to the bed successfully

*

"Now we have that sorted..." Lin stated, she moved her arms down and the rock the bed was resting on dropped down, Lin waved her arms and covered the bed with more rock. She then flattened all the other rocky structures except from the toilet area, "anyone need to go?" she inquired. Laura nodded and ran in to the toilet but was out again a minute later. Lin promptly flattened it and turned to the entrance. "let's go"

Asami crawled out and checked for people in the second antechamber. "all clear" she called. Korra and Elizabeth followed Lin, the latter pulled her arms outward to create a nice hole in their wall that both Korra and Elizabeth could fit through. Asami then crawled out in to the main tunnels and back again. "all clear"

"right, Elizabeth, you and Asami go get the car, we'll be waiting for you outside." Elizabeth nodded and wheeled off, Asami in hot pursuit.

"quite the little family you've got there" Elizabeth smiled widely, "are they... Yanno, mutants?"

"yes, they are"

"now I understand why you were very cautious"

"Why are you helping us?"

"Because it's the right thing to do"

"thank you"

*

Asami and Elizabeth drove in silence and picked the other four up. "it's a bit of a squeeze back there, I do apologise" Elizabeth said over her shoulder, she returned to driving and they bumped on to the asphalt. "finally" she muttered. Lin, Korra and Laura were in the back seats, Kya was sitting alone at the very back of the car. Lin and Kya had argued for a few minutes because Lin wanted to sit next to Kya, Kya had argued because Laura needed people she knew next to her and with Asami sitting at the front with Elizabeth to ensure no unwanted attention was drawn to the car, it meant one of them would have to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry, sweetie" Kya whispered, "maybe when we're safely in Canada Laura will be able to sit next to Asami"

"How's it going back there, Korra?" Asami called back

"I'm a little warm" Korra muttered

"Sorry, Korra. That blanket is to keep your exorthosis hidden" Asami tried to soothe her

"i don't want to hide it"

"I know... It's just until we're in Canada"

"Border crossing" Korra pointed it out

"we can't use that, Korra" Elizabeth replied

"huh?"

"Because you lot are fugitives and walking weapons, besides, do you have passports?"

"what's a... Passport?" Korra asked, she looked at Asami who shrugged

"exactly. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. we're gonna have to scout the border before nightfall and then decide where to make the crossing"

"right"

*

Hours passed, Laura and Korra slept on and off, Kya kept watch from her rear facing seats, Asami was busy doodling and Lin was watching Elizabeth closely while holding Laura protectively. "you still don't trust me do you, Lin?" Elizabeth's voice broke the silence as the sixth hour came and went

"no" Lin replied

"She doesn't trust anyone easily, Elizabeth" Kya's voice echoed from the back of the car

"especially when my family are in danger" Lin stated bluntly

"Mom, we're not in danger" Asami interrupted

"we were in danger the moment we left that cave, Asami"

Asami rolled her eyes, "police officers!" she exclaimed

"it's a dangerous world" Lin replied

"Shut up already, you're scaring Laura!" Korra's angry voice was the last thing heard for a long while, none of the others wanted to risk upsetting Korra enough to make her eyes glow. In the enclosed space of the car, that would be a fatal decision for all of them, except perhaps Laura

"Sorry" Lin finally broke the silence

"Gran-Gran" Laura nestled in to Lin's side, aware that Korra had drifted back to sleep. The added heat from that blanket enough to make Korra incredibly drowsy

"I love you, Laura" Lin placed a kiss on Laura's forehead and they sat for another few hours just watching the scenery go by

"i need the pee" Laura finally broke the silence

"Crap" Lin muttered

"Alright, we'll pull over in this little wood and you can go in there"

"Gracias"

"you're welcome, Laura." Elizabeth stopped the car and Lin dragged herself out of the car, Laura ran off behind some trees

"Don't go far, sweetie!" Asami called out after her, having also dragged herself out of the car and pulling on her glove as she went

"i won't, mama"

A few minutes later there was a shriek

*

"what was that?! Laura!!" Asami had began to panic, Korra was struggling to get out of the car, Lin and Kya were already running towards the source of the noise

"¡Vete a la mierda!" Laura screamed

"hey keep your voice down little freak" a voice cooed

"shit!" Asami hissed, suddenly the wind picked up and she looked over her shoulder. Korra's maternal instincts had kicked in full force and she was floating, eyes glowing, surrounded by a ball of air, a ring of fire, a ring of water and a ring of chunks of earth. "fuck me" Asami whispered

"Laura!! I'm coming!!" Korra shot off towards her daughter, smashing down any trees and rocky outcroppings that got in her way

"What... Is that?" one of the men cursed blindly, the wind kicking up enough dust to temporarily blind Laura's attackers

"esa es mi mami!!" Laura yelled over the noise, "¡Y aquí vienen mis abuelos!" the men noticed Laura was _smiling_

" **GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER**!!" Korra's voice was otherworldly and she effortlessly broke through the final barrier of trees just before Lin and Kya smashed their way through another barrier of trees. Korra launched three massive fireballs at the men, two dodged but one fell. Korra followed up with another attack, Laura had been pinned to a nearby tree by one of the attackers and that was the reason she screamed. Kya moved in quicker than any of the attackers could see and created a solid block of ice around Laura and the tree, safeguarding her from any attack. Lin swooped in on one of her metal cables, the other wrapped itself around an attacker's neck like it was alive and threw him into the nearby river. Lin landed softly and created an earthen fortress which no attacker would be able to get through. Seeing that Lin was with Laura, Kya melted the ice that had surrounded Laura but hadn't touched her. Korra, meanwhile had flattened another two of the attackers with a well placed boulder and was chasing down the final three as they tried to make their escape in a speedboat. " **I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!!** " Korra's voice echoed around the entire valley. Asami had finally made it to the scene of the fight, she gasped when she saw the mangled bodies under the boulder, the frozen body of the man who had been chucked in the river, his arms and one of his legs were missing, his head was turned too far to one side to be natural. She had zapped the final man who had hidden in a small chasm and dragged him out into the clearing. Kya had promptly beheaded him.

"where's Laura?"

Kya pointed at the fortress. "i... In there" Kya stuttered, the adrenaline was rapidly fading and shock was begging to hit

"breathe, Kya" Asami whispered. Kya bent a wave of water to carry her and Asami over the walls and to Lin and Laura. What they saw wasn't a pleasant sight. Laura was pinned to a tree with several sharp pieces of metal having been shoved through her arms and legs, pinning her to the tree. Her adimantium claws were extended but she was pinned so she couldn't defend herself. Lin bent the metal out of Laura but she had already fallen unconscious

"Shit" was all Lin was able to say. She gently picked Laura up and cuddled her close

*

A massive explosion echoed through the entire valley with screams echoing in the aftermath. "seems like Korra hit her target" Asami muttered

"If you say so" Kya was rubbing Lin's back, trying to calm her. They didn't know how effective Laura's healing was because they hadn't actually seen her get wounded before. Korra landed, carrying three badly burned, but still alive men

"These were the scumbags who attempted to run" she declared

"They're still alive, Korra" Lin whispered

"that will be rectified momentarily" Korra's eyes were still glowing brightly, "the explosion seemed to attract a large amount of attention from people in cars with flashing lights on them so I didn't have time to kill them _and_ get out of there"

"So you brought them back with you"

"Yes" Korra began to bend the air around them. She created an artificial vacuum and the attackers were rapidly deformed. Their eyes were sucked out of their sockets and their lungs protruded out of their mouths, their bodies swelled until they exploded seconds later

Seeing what was going to happen, Asami closed her eyes. "eww" she gagged when she heard the popping nose that had indicated their demise.

"they are no more" Korra declared, the glow faded, she fell to her knees unconscious and would've toppled over on to her side had she not been caught by Asami and Kya

*

"what in the name of all that's holy happened here?" Elizabeth had followed the trail of destruction in the car and had stopped in the clearing, all the trees between where they had stopped and where they were now had been decimated by Korra so Elizabeth had no difficulty navigating the car to the clearing. Lin was holding Laura and Asami and Kya were holding Korra up so she didn't fall and potentially damage any of her braces

"someone hurt Laura, mommy Korra got pissed" was all Asami was capable of saying. Elizabeth dragged herself out of the car and into her wheelchair, she went back around the back of the car, got the first aid kit out and wheeled over to Lin and Laura.

"oh Laura..." Elizabeth sighed

"She got pinned to that tree" Lin explained, "metal spikes..."

"I don't really want to know" Elizabeth interrupted. She was focusing on Laura to avoid looking around at the bits of body that were splattered everywhere. She wrapped Laura's arms and legs tightly and motioned for Lin to put her back in the car. Immediately she saw Korra was going to be more of a problem, she had barely fitted in to the car with all her braces on when she could help but now she was completely out of it. "shit" she hissed

After a bit of a faff they managed to get Korra into the car. Everyone else piled in quickly, it was now too late to attempt to navigate away without passing the police cars and possibly getting pulled over or even arrested. "shit" Kya muttered

Lin, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm, she smiled reassuringly and pointed at the river. "turn so you're facing the river and drive. Leave the rest to me"

Elizabeth nodded and revved the engine, the car shot forward. Lin raised her hands and a pathway rose out of the bedrock under the river. Elizabeth drove over it at speed while Lin lowered one of her hands every few seconds which brought the rock they had just driven over smashing back down into the bedrock as if it had never been lifted. Once they were over the river, Elizabeth drove so the car was concealed from the clearing by a screen of trees before she stopped the engine and put it in park. "We need to stay here for a while, they'll be searching" she had whispered. Lin nodded and punched downward with both hands to lower them all underground, she then flicked her wrist and the ground above them sealed over.

"welcome to Canada by the way"

"We made it" Asami sighed


	11. Flight to Montreal: Part I

"Ugh. It's dark in here" Kya moaned, "very difficult to treat Laura's injuries"

"Sorry" Lin sighed

"how's Korra?"

"Still unconscious"

"Is she normally out for this long?" Elizabeth whispered, a note of worry in her voice

"I don't know, she's never done that... thing for that long even the one time she did before" Lin whispered, her worry abundantly clear

"We need a name for that... Thing" Asami interjected

"once we're safe, Asami"

"How's my daughter, Kya?"

"The wounds have healed themselves, all we've gotta wait for is Laura to wake up"

They paused when they heard the tromping of boots above them then the sound of a few helicopters. "did you return the soil to its original condition, mom?"

"Of course I did, Asami"

"good"

"Hmmm... eso se siente bien"

"Laura!!" Asami jumped up and ran to where Kya was rubbing water over Laura's back and neck in an effort to help her wake

"I'm glad that feels nice, Laura" Lin smiled down at her granddaughter

"Gran-Gran" Laura sighed, she looked at her arms and hands and there was no sign of any damage from the attack. "that feels good, what are you doing, Grandma?"

"I'm healing you, Laura"

"don't stop"

"I wasn't going to, Laura" Kya smiled a warm smile and continued even though she had actually finished

"are you alright?" Elizabeth walked over and smiled at the young girl

"I am otay" Laura smiled up at Elizabeth

"I'm glad to hear it, Laura"

"Thank you for helping my mama with mommy's leg things"

"You're welcome Laura" Laura wriggled out of Kya's arms and hugged Elizabeth. "Awww, Laura, don't cry"

"i was so scared" Laura snuggled into Elizabeth, "most people run when they see that sort of thing"

"it hadn't even crossed my mind" Elizabeth reassured Laura a bit more then put her in Asami's lap

"mama" Laura snuggled into Asami and was asleep in seconds

"Wow... Most kids don't go to sleep anywhere near that quickly"

"Laura's special"

"I've always known that"

"Anyway, Elizabeth, you're our guide, now we're in the place called Canada, what next?" Asami whispered quietly, conscious of Laura

"We now need to wait until things quieten down out there. We then need to find out exactly where we are. I believe we're near to a place called Emerson" Elizabeth explained, following Asami's lead and also whispering

"why can't we just go there?" Kya asked

"too close to where Korra blew the boat up... They'll be on the lookout for intruders"

"Right"

"We need to head to a place called Letellier" she held up the map that she had grabbed from a gas station while Korra and Laura distracted the cashier by making a lot of noise and Korra trying, and failing, to juggle several plastic fuel containers. "Shit..."

"what?"

"This won't be easy to do, since we have to avoid the seventy fifth, we'll have to go a long way to avoid both the customs people and the roads, actually if we follow this road," she pointed at it with her finger, "we can just go across the field, we can be there quite quickly. From there we can fill up the tank and grab some snacks" Elizabeth sighed, "we've then got the long haul to get to Montreal, where my medical team are based. This team has, amongst others, a GI doctor, a neurologist, an gynecologist, which I don't think we need and an orthoticist, which again we don't need" she indicated Korra's braces. "all in all the two and a half thousand kilometres will take over a day"

"A day?" Lin scoffed, "try walking across Mexico and the entire United States, traveling at night, two women alone, lugging an adimantium cage around behind you"

"oh my"

"it may not be as far, but we have a car now and Korra can walk"

"I'm sorry" Elizabeth whispered

"how long do we have to stay stuck in this hole?" Kya spoke after remaining silent for a while

"A few more hours should do it"

*

Eleven hours later, Lin silently moved the ground above them to one side and lifted them slowly above ground. While Asami went off to check the river and the scene of the violent confrontation, Kya and Lin got Korra into the car. Laura snuggled into her mother even though she was still unconscious. "ugh, Korra! You're a fucking dead weight, you know that?!" Lin had growled in frustration after the fifth attempt to get Korra's body to comply and fit into the car

Minutes later, Asami returned. "all clear, ladies"

"good then let's go before they come back"

Lin hopped into the front seat while Kya hopped into one of the seats at the very back of the car. "ready" Kya called. Elizabeth started the car and drove away, Lin moved the trees out of the way with earthbending and Kya used her waterbending to remove the tyre tracks behind them. Korra and Asami were sat either side of Laura and while two were out for the count, one continued watching nervously until they burst back out into an open field

"are we safe?"

"yes. Luckily this car is also licensed and insured for Canada so as long as we don't draw attention to ourselves we should be fine... Once we get to Letellier, til then we're driving across fields"

*

"here we are" Elizabeth sighed half an hour later, "Letellier. time for you to wrap Korra up, Asami" Asami did so quickly and they carried on in to the Town. Asami picked up a few bits and pieces from a hardware store and Lin went and got food while Kya and Laura went clothes shopping. Elizabeth and Korra remained in the car. "Korra" Elizabeth grumbled, "wake up, Korra" she shook the younger woman gently but she still didn't wake. Elizabeth had already gone to get fuel and had checked on the boxes of supplies that had been tossed hurriedly into the back of the car. The big box contained a tracheostomy kit and the ventilator, as well as the continuous positive airway pressure machine, feeding supplies which included feed bags, enteral formula and the pump. the second box which was placed on top of the larger one contained enough first aid supplies to 'patch up a small army'. Elizabeth smiled at that, Asami had said it when she saw what Kya and Lin had been able to scrounge out of the nearby hospital using a combination of their earthbending and waterbending. "c'mon you lot" Elizabeth muttered, tapping her fingers restlessly

"hey" Asami had got back without incident

"hey, Emerald" Elizabeth sighed in relief, "did you get what you needed?"

"yes. I'm going to try to make another of my gloves for you, Eliz" Asami explained

"Your gloves?"

"Here" Asami pulled off her pack and chucked the glove contraption to Elizabeth who sat staring at it for five whole minutes. "well?"

"you made this... In a cave?"

"strictly speaking, no" Asami replied. "i perfected the design after I received the message from Officer. Another thing I stole from my father, not that he had it working, he didn't"

"So you made both before you left Republic City?"

"No. I only made the one" Asami explained, "the spare one which is still in the bag. I went into an internet café one day before we left Mexico and found a video on a site called YouTube about something similar... Called a taser, and I managed to incorporate that technology into the glove too" she indicated two sharp needles mounted above where the knuckles of the middle and index fingers would be. "press the thumb to activate the contact taser and press in both the index and middle fingers to launch the needles" Asami explained

"Why do you have two?"

"one was for mom" Asami explained. "it's now a spare, it was also the first one I built so it's a little more crude than this one and the one I'll be making for you"

"mama!"

"Garra!" Asami turned and swept Laura into her arms while Kya returned carrying several bags

"Clothes" Kya explained. "enough for a few days"

"we'll be able to use a washing machine when we get to Montreal. My parents have a house there but they only tend to use it in the spring and summer, it's very obviously fall, they will have moved down south to their home in Florida for the winter"

"Right"

"I have a set of keys" Elizabeth added, "we won't be breaking and entering"

"Good" Asami sighed, "after all you've done for us I think it'd be a bad way to repay you and your family if we broke into your parents' house"

"Thank you for your concern, Emerald" Elizabeth laughed, knowing full well that if it was necessary to break in to save Korra's or Laura's life then they wouldn't hesitate to do so

"where's L... Officer?" Elizabeth stumbled while watching Kya unceremoniously lob the clothes on top of the medical supplies

"I have no idea, by now she's probably brought half the shelves in the grocery store down in frustration" Asami chortled

"Ladies" came a curt voice

"oh, Officer, we were just wondering if you'd got yourself arrested by metalbending the store in frustration!"

"Ha ha very funny" Lin scowled

"did you get everything?"

"yup"

"girls... We ought to get moving... There's a bit more of a police presence now than there was twenty minutes ago"

"right" everyone jumped into the car, Asami took the other back seat and Laura sat in between her and Korra, Lin and Kya jumped into the back and shared a quick kiss. Elizabeth settled in to the driver's seat for the first driving shift

"Let's go" Elizabeth turned the key and started the car. They were just rolling out of the parking lot when Elizabeth noticed multiple police cars screaming past

"What the?!" Korra yelped and sat bolt upright, having finally been woken by the shrieking sirens. Asami had fiddled with the braces and adjusted the sensors so that they were more calibrated. Korra fell back while rubbing her neck and chest after the seat belt nearly garroted her. "ow, fuck"

"mommy" Laura trilled with joy and wrapped her arms around Korra

"Hey, sweetie" Korra replied. "how long was I out?" she looked around

"Oh probably a good fourteen hours" Asami smiled at Korra, "but don't worry you didn't miss a thing"

There were multiple police cars outside the shop that Laura and Kya had visited. "definitely time to leave" Elizabeth stated, the others nodded eagerly

"let's go" soon they were on the open road and had left the town behind. "time for an eternally long drive" Elizabeth muttered

"You alright up there, Eliz?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" Elizabeth called back, before she settled down to drive them for the first six hours

*

The journey passed without incident, apart from Laura wanting the toilet. This time neither Korra nor Asami would allow Laura to move further than a few metres from them so they had Lin bend an earthen tent for her. In the end they were stopped down the little lane for nearly half an hour because everyone ended up needing to go, including Korra. Asami came out of the tent and smiled wearily at Kya who washed her hands of the accumulated dirt and other mess. "the sooner we get Korra's body working again the better" Asami whispered, "that was not nice"

"rather you than me, kid" Lin chortled

"Thanks, _mom_ "

They loaded themselves back into the car with a bit less difficulty this time, they were becoming more practiced at doing so. "ready?" it was Elizabeth's turn to drive again, they had been on the road for over twelve hours and weren't even halfway to their destination.

"yes" came the chorus of voices and they quickly sunk back into their previous routine. Kya and Lin snuck kisses and other... Things in the back while also watching out for pursuit, safe in the knowledge that nobody else in the vehicle, or out of it, could see what they were actually doing. Korra cuddled Laura while Asami continued to braid her hair. Asami's eyes had narrowed because she knewexactlywhat Kya and Lin were up to but she saw no reason to challenge them over it and risk Laura and Korra finding out. Both Korra and Laura were cutely naive and Asami didn't want that to change, at least not yet. She had her own desires but she mercilessly crushed them, _Korra's safety and health first, me second_.

*

"Whew we've just passed the midway point!" Asami exclaimed quietly, she has been driving for four of her six hour stint and Elizabeth was fast asleep next to her, having completed her second six hours she had fallen asleep immediately upon being relieved. Lin and Kya were also passed out on each others' shoulders and Laura had curled up into Korra's side carefully so she didn't wake her mother. Asami and Laura were the only two awake and they shared a moment of quiet celebration together when Asami had said they'd passed the midway point, yes it had taken ten hours longer than they had estimated but that was due to the blizzard and occasional police checkpoint. "will have to wake Eliz up soon" Asami called back to Laura, "then I can come back there and cuddle you, or I might just fall asleep, Laura, I'm shattered"

"Otay mama" Laura replied, watching the scenery go by. The blizzard hadn't got up to full strength yet but it was slowly building up to that. as it was, Asami could still see far enough to be able to drive at half the speed they should've been going and there was no ice yet, so Kya's abilities remained unneeded

*

"I think we have to stop" Elizabeth stated reluctantly two hours into her third shift. They had only covered about twenty miles since Asami had told Laura she'd have to wake Elizabeth soon, the weather had deteriorated, and quickly

"ugh" Asami stuck her middle finger up at the clouds in frustration, the finger being a habit she'd picked up from the students at the university.

"Yes, I don't think this is safe anymore, sorry, Kya you did your best"

"That's alright, Eliz, don't worry about apologising"

"Well then I guess we'd better make camp?"

"or we could stop at that lovely looking hotel over there?"

"would that be safe?"

"camping out is our backup plan"

"righty ho"

"Hello ma'am" the receptionist said in a posh, clipped voice

"Hello, we'll have three rooms please" Elizabeth declared

"right away" he got three card keys. "that'll be three hundred dollars deposit please"

"Alright, hang on" Asami moved forward, gently moved Elizabeth out of the way and placed three crisp hundred dollar bills down

"thank you" he handed Asami the card keys, she chucked one to Lin, handed another to Elizabeth and kept one for herself. They walked up to their rooms, thankful they had changed their clothes before entering the hotel, and entered their rooms. Korra, Asami and Laura went into one, Lin and Kya went into another with a twinkle in their eyes and Elizabeth went into the last one.

"this is the life" Korra whispered, relieved. She sat down on the bed and flicked the quick release button on her braces which came off immediately. She made grabby hands at Asami who helped her stand and sit back on the bed next to the braces

"You're doing so well, Korra" only her Lycra Orthosis and her trunk cast remained on her

"mama" Laura sat next to Korra, placing her head on Korra's shoulder

"yes, sweetie?"

Laura pointed at the fridge where there was a little bottle of apple juice and then at the TV. "i don't know, you'll have to ask mommy"

"Mommy?"

"oooh look" Korra squealed, "they've got Disney movers!"

"Let's watch Mulan!!" Laura exclaimed

"Don't think I've seen that one" Korra replied, Asami smiled, she had seen it before but it had been a very long time

There was a knock on the door, "everything alright in there?"

"fine, mama, mama go get mommy and Eliz and tell them to join us, we're watching Mulan" Korra called

"otay" Kya disappeared off and returned with both Lin, who was curious, and Elizabeth, who was excited

"Nothing like an old classic" Elizabeth commented happily while Asami fiddled with the machine until she got it to play. They all sat back and watched the mover quietly late into the night


	12. Flight to Montreal: Part II

Korra and Asami woke early next morning feeling more refreshed than they had since they started living in caves, Asami hadn't got a comfortable night's sleep in nine years. Asami stretched out on her half of the bed until her hand came into contact with hair, she then moved her hand to the top of the head that the hair belonged to and started to gently pull her fingers through het hair. "mmphh mama" Laura murmured sleepily

"yes, my beautiful daughter" Asami whispered. Korra had already rolled out of bed and was in the bathroom and Asami looked down and saw Laura's beautiful twinkling brown eyes looking up at her, filled with love and happiness. Laura's eyes weren't just monotone brown, Asami could see hundreds of different shades within her eyes, her eyes didn't glow like Korra's blue ones but they twinkled and had their own beauty.

"good morning, Laura" Korra emerged from the bathroom and came over to the bed to give Laura a cuddle straight away

"mommy" Laura snuggled in to Korra and Asami who quickly shared a kiss. Laura looked up at them as they kissed and held both her hands up to their faces. Her left hand gently touched Korra's cheek and her right touched Asami's cheek. Korra and Asami both moved their heads simultaneously to kiss Laura's hands. "mama. Mommy"

There was a knock on the door, "you three awake?" it was Lin. She had probably been up since the crack of dawn, again. Getting her to have a lie in was nigh on impossible and both Korra and Asami had given up

"yes, mom" Asami called, she got out of bed and unlocked the door before throwing herself back under the covers at the sudden breeze

"Gran-Gran!!" Laura called

"hey, Laura" Lin had a gentle voice she reserved just for Laura, even though she never raised her voice or spoke harshly to Korra or Asami, her voice was still slightly gravelly. "had a good night?" Laura nodded enthusiastically, "ready to get back on the road?" Lin then inquired

"Yes" Laura replied. "Gran-Gran, where's Grandma?"

"in the shower"

There was another knock on the door, Korra and Asami were now fully dressed, having pulled on clothes when they went into the bathroom. "come in" Asami called

"Good morning" Elizabeth wheeled in and around Korra who was busy locking herself into her braces

"Morning, Eliz" Asami replied

"I've already paid you guys so we can get out as soon as we're done"

"I'm ready" Korra stated, her hair still wet from the shower

"Me too" Asami pulled her glove on

"you four head out to the car, I'll wait for Kya"

Elizabeth led them to the car which was where she had parked it the night before. Korra was standing tall in her new braces and it only took her a minute to slip in to the vehicle. Kya and Lin came down moments later and settled into the back again

*

They had only been on the road for ten minutes when Laura gasped and yelled stop in Spanish, Elizabeth slammed the breaks on and Laura jumped out of the car before it had even stopped. "what's got into her?" Korra grumbled

"No idea... Oh my..." Laura was on her way back, supporting a slightly older child who looked badly beaten. Asami leapt out of the car and ran back to it with the girl in her arms. Both Lin and Kya had also got out of the car in a hurry, Lin had bent the latch instead of struggling to open it. "Laura... What happened?" Asami whispered, holding the older girl carefully

"Rebecca" Laura sobbed, her tears running down her face

"if Rebecca is here then where are the others?"

Lin pulled a dart out of Rebecca's back. She held it for a second before she crushed it. "Transigen" she spat

"they must've got lucky with the shot but not realised they had hit her" Kya gently wiped the grime and dirt off of Rebecca's face carefully while Lin held Laura tightly. "she's alive" Kya had felt Rebecca's pulse, strong and stable despite her looking a little worse for wear

"We shouldn't have let them leave" Asami whispered

"¿hoja de lechuga?" a small voice groaned. Rebecca winced and opened her eyes slowly, she began to pull back but then she recognised Asami. "Asami?" she groaned, feeling very sore

"yes, I'm here"

"gracias a la mierda" Rebecca sighed before she threw up all over the outside of Elizabeth's car

"what happened to you?" Asami asked

"¿qué te ha pasado?" Lin became interpreter once again

"Transigen nos siguió al otro lado de la frontera y atacó. me lanzaron y me obligaron a separarme del grupo, esperaba que vinieran tras de mí, pero supongo que no se dieron cuenta de que me iban a pegar. el dardo entró en vigencia y me derrumbé por esa colina ... no recuerdo más"

"What happened to her?" Asami looked at Lin

"Transigen followed them across the border and attacked. Rebecca got hit and was forced to separate from the group, she had hoped they'd go after her instead of the others but she thinks they didn't realise they'd hit her with a dart. the dart took effect and she collapsed down that hill... She doesn't remember any more after that"

"Shit" Kya growled, "Rebecca's arms are broken and she's got a nasty head injury"

"Damn. We need to find a hospital" Lin hissed

"Nearest hospital isn't until we get to Toronto"

"Fuck" Rebecca was slipping in and out of consciousness and obeying the speed limits, Toronto was still a good six hours away

"Guess we have to bend the rules" Elizabeth groaned, "might be pulled over if we do"

"we can't let Rebecca's condition worsen" Lin replied firmly

"shit..." Elizabeth gunned the engine and quickly shot past the speed limit.

*

Elizabeth and the others were incredibly lucky, they not only got to Toronto in two hours, they avoided any police entanglement and also had happened to have chosen a speed camera free route. "phew" Elizabeth sighed when she pulled up outside the emergency department and Asami got out of the front seat to carry Rebecca in. Laura had been sitting in the very back of the car with Lin while Kya and Korra worked on Rebecca to attempt to counter some of her injuries.

"i need help!!" Asami cried once she had ran through the doors into the hospital

Several doctors ran up and took Rebecca for scans. A nurse remained with Asami and pestered her with questions. "look, I don't know what happened otay?!" Asami snapped, "i take my eyes off her for a few minutes and she's down on the floor, if my daughter hadn't seen her she could've been there for longer!"

"I'm sorry...'

"Emerald"

"I'm sorry, Emerald, this is every parent's worst nightmare" by now the rest of their group had joined Asami. Korra sat next to Asami, wrapped her arms around Laura and Asami and was cuddling them both tightly, Laura was sobbing quietly in Asami and Korra's arms

"it's going to be alright, Laura"

"Yes, sweetie, she'll be fine"

"we need to be careful" Elizabeth reminded them

"I know, from here on out it's nicknames only" Asami replied, "Lin, I've decided you should be called Leanne, I'll remain as Emerald, Kya, you're going to be Katherine, Laura you can keep your name, Korra, you're going to be Katy, Elizabeth you can be Bethany"

"Right"

"That's quite good, Asami, maybe I should've left you to come up with the nicknames"

"we can still use those, mom, just not in public places like this"

"Hmm fair enough"

*

"Excuse me, are you the young girl's family?"

"Yes" Korra declared proudly, her back nearly completely straight and her arms and legs were nearly fully mobile

"She's got a nasty head injury, we don't know if she'll wake up"

"oh no..." Asami teared up, "not again"

"a fair amount of her injuries seem to have healed extraordinarily quickly though..." the doctor continued

"You can thank these two for that" Asami indicated Kya and Korra, "they know a fair amount about medicinal chemistry, even if they're not doctors"

"most of her injuries appear in severity as if they had been caused a few days ago, even some of the swelling inside her skull has gone down a little, if they hadn't done whatever they did, she probably wouldn't be alive"

"good work" Asami winked at Korra and Kya

"Anyway, what is the girl's name?"

"Rebecca"

"and surname?"

"Shu"

"Date of birth?"

"i haven't the foggiest" the doctor's eyebrow raised slightly, "she was on the streets when we" she wrapped her arm around Korra's waist, "found her and this one" she kissed Laura's cheek

"ah I see" the doctor nodded slowly and continued. "any allergies?"

"no"

"Any preexisting medical conditions?"

"Not as far as we're aware"

"And finally, I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but do you have a method to pay for this girl's treatment should she need any?"

"I'm..." she shut her mouth when Lin stood on her foot

"pardon?" it was obvious the doctor would be more suspicious if Elizabeth didn't continue, "I'm paying" she finally declared. "I'm a friend of the family"

"Bethany, you don't have to"

"I want to" she paused, "i just need to go get my wallet, Emerald?"

"coming"

Elizabeth and Asami wheeled and walked out, "sorry" Elizabeth muttered

"don't worry about it, you're new to this whole 'on the run' thing"

"you can say that again" Elizabeth laughed

"I took enough money out of my father's account to last us a while, it's in the bottom of my pack"

"how much should cover it?" Elizabeth wondered

"Ten K?"

"ten grand?" Elizabeth breathed out slowly

"Yeah..."

"You've been busy saving"

"not really, I stole it from my father, Hiroshi Sato" she paused at Elizabeth's blank face, "the richest man in Republic City, he's also a multi-billionaire out here in the real world too"

"fuck me" Elizabeth gasped when she pulled out a massive wad of cash

"D'ya think they'd prefer a bank transfer?"

"possibly"

*

They returned to the ER after Asami had grabbed her card and bank details, "i don't like using these they might end up being tracked"

"i understand"

Korra smiled at them as they entered the waiting room which was still eerily empty. "hey, sweetie" Korra kissed Asami and she sat down, pulled Laura close and returned her attention to her daughter.

"Hello again" the doctor had returned, "I'm afraid your daughter has some brain damage, she has had some of her skull lodged in her brain. We can remove it, but she'll need extensive rehabilitation to be able to speak again

"But... She said my name? And spoke to us?" Asami stumbled with her words

"that must've been soon after she fell?" Asami nodded, "these things tend to get worse as time goes on"

"ah" Asami covered her mouth with her hand and bit back a sob

"your daughter will be fine, Emerald, she's in surgery now"

"will we be able to take her to Montreal?" Asami asked, "we're going there to see Bethany's medical team in an effort to help my girlfriend, Katy walk again"

"I see..." the doctor thought for a little while, "let me converse with my colleagues and get back to you. I personally don't foresee too many complications but I'd like to discuss it with them"

"Very well" Asami nodded and he hurried off

A few minutes later he was back, "my colleagues were incredibly impressed with their handiwork" he nodded at Korra and Kya, "and thanks to that we agree there's not too many risks. We would however like to keep her overnight" Asami checked her watch, it was barely nine in the morning, "to make sure what we've done will be sufficient until you get to Montreal"

"Shit" Lin hissed

"I'm sorry" the doctor replied, "my name is Doctor Farr, I'm the lead paediatric doctor here and I've just started my shift, Rebecca is in good hands"

"thank you, Doctor Farr"

"Well I'd better get back to my team" Doctor Farr left in a hurry

"Shit" Asami sighed, "this isn't good news"

"It'll be fine, Emerald" Lin muttered

"Fucking hell, mom, we never should've allowed them to go on alone"

"She'll be alright, Emerald"

It was another four hours before Doctor Farr returned. "she's going to be fine"

"you sure?" Asami whispered, beside herself with worry

"Yes" Doctor Farr smiled sincerely.

"Thank fuck for that" Asami sighed, releasing all her pent up anxiety

"If she's not going to wake soon we'd do well to go find a hotel to stay at" Elizabeth reminded the group

"Yes, you and me can do that Bethany, but I think Lin, Asami, Korra and Laura want to stay here"

"Yes please, mama and mommy"

"alright, Laura"

"Come on then Bethany, let's go get a hotel"

"oh my" Asami teared up again, "poor Rebecca"

"Whoever harmed her will pay the price!" Korra growled

"join the queue" Laura growled

"we will kill all the Transigen scum" Korra vowed

"Emerald Shu?" Doctor Farr's voice called over the general clamour. "your daughter is beginning to wake. Nurse Kuvira, could you take Emerald and her family to Rebecca Shu's room?"

"Yes, Doctor" she gestured, "this way, ma'am"

"Thank you"

They got to Rebecca's room quickly and Kuvira let them in. "just use the call module on the wall if you need anything. She's being monitored and if she starts to struggle we'll be alerted

"Thank you"

"Ugh" Rebecca groaned softly and felt a hand being pulled through her hair as well as a voice she recognised.

"come on Rebecca, come on sweetie, you're alright. You're alright"

Rebecca also heard a voice she didn't recognise, "you're safe now, Rebecca, we'll look after you"

"Rebecca? Rebecca por favor despierta"

"L...?" Rebecca groaned

"Si" Laura saw the questioning look in Rebecca's eyes, it had not yet become frustration, Rebecca remained quiet, unable to speak. "mi mamá, Korra, necesita un hospital en Montreal para ayudarla a aprender a caminar de nuevo. Mi Mamá, Asami, Gran-Gran Lin y la Abuela Kya querían venir, así que todos vamos a Montreal"

Rebecca nodded then looked around, "A...?" she breathed

"Yes. We're all here"

"Hey, Rebecca" Korra smiled widely

"K...?" even though Rebecca hadn't recognised Korra's voice, her blue eyes were unmistakable

"yes, you're safe now." Rebecca smiled in relief.

*

"Rebecca?" Asami whispered, it was late at night and Rebecca had been dozing even though she had woken up very frightened, she relaxed when she saw Asami and Korra. Rebecca had woken up and squeezed Asami's hand weakly. Rebecca weakly pointed to her mouth, "you're hungry?" Rebecca shook her head and indicated the tube up her nose, "thirsty?" she nodded and smiled a pained smile, the pain medication was wearing off and every slight movement caused her head spinning pain. "I'll get you some water" Asami smiled, she moved over carefully so to not wake Korra who had fallen asleep with her head on her hands on Rebecca's bed. Lin and Kya had gone to the hotel with Elizabeth and Laura. Laura hadn't wanted to leave her friend's side but eventually the lure of a hot bath encouraged her to go with her grandparents. She had been gone for five hours so Asami guessed that Laura had fallen asleep.

Asami returned with the water and one of the nurses who gave Rebecca more morphine and she slowly drifted back to sleep, knocked for six by the medication. "good night, Rebecca" Korra whispered and kissed her forehead

"good night, Rebecca" Asami whispered in the girl's ear before she mirrored Korra's actions and kissed her forehead


	13. Flight to Montreal: Part III

Doctor Farr returned early the next morning and checked in. Asami and Korra hadn't left Rebecca's beside the entire night while the rest had retired to the hotel room. "she's not doing too badly" he stated calmly. "she still can't speak?"

"no" Asami replied

"that's to be expected" he replied, by now his voice had woken Korra up

"morning" she grumbled, "what did I miss?"

"Nothing, sweetie" she turned back to the doctor and smiled, "sorry about her, mornings are her mortal enemy"

"Mornings are evil" Korra grumped

To Asami's surprise, Doctor Farr chuckled. "aye, that they are"

"Morning!" Lin had bustled through the door whilst carrying a sleepy Laura, Kya was struggling to put Laura's shoe on and she mumbled one word over and over

"Rebecca..."

"Rebecca's here, Laura" Lin gently turned Laura's head so she was blearily looking in the right direction

"Rebecca" Laura's eyes opened a little more and she wriggled in Lin's arms, angling to be put down on the bed

"Go ahead" Doctor Farr nodded, "but please be careful, she spent hours in surgery yesterday"

Lin gently placed Laura down on the bed and Laura cuddled up to Rebecca like she had done before she met Korra, Asami and Lin. "Rebecca..." Laura whimpered, gently hugging her older friend

"She can hear you, Laura" Doctor Farr assured her. Laura gave Doctor Farr a massive smile, he grinned back before turning back to Asami, "now, Emerald, Rebecca may look a little worse for wear but we can run a scan to ensure that she's safe to be carried in your car"

"thank you" Asami smiled at him then turned back to Laura and Rebecca.

*

"goodbye Doctor Farr, thank you for saving Rebecca!!" Laura called as they left the hospital, Rebecca in a wheelchair. They were just leaving when a truck pulled up outside the hospital. "oh no" Laura whispered and pulled Rebecca closer

"Laura?"

"Transigen" she pointed at the van that was now blocking the exit

"We're done running from these bastards" Lin hissed, she pulled back away from the car and shook her coat off, revealing the metal drums on her hips

"right you are, sweetie" Kya pulled the water from a nearby puddle and flexed her fingertips. The water solidified and shot through the tyres of the enemy van. "they won't be able to follow us now"

"then, let's finish this, for Laura and Rebecca's sakes" Asami had joined them and Elizabeth was suddenly armed, she had pulled a gun out of a hidden compartment under her glove box

"hey!" the Transigen man noticed all their tyres were flat. "what the?!" he swore under his breath, the profanity worsening by the second. "urk!" he made a strangled cry when Lin landed on him, swung through the air by her metal cables.

"fuck you, asshole" Lin hissed, she pulled her cables back and punched him in the side of the head

"what are you...? Over there!!" he was pointing at the car that Laura and Rebecca were in. Transigen men came running back out of the hospital but a gust of wind knocked them off balance

"You will not hurt my daughters!" Asami screeched, she leapt forward with an agility they'd only ever seen Laura achieve. Asami flew through the air, her glove crackling and hair flying. She landed on one of the men, giving him a hearty zapping with the glove. "you fucking assholes!" Asami yelled while flipping around on one hand and kicking another man's leg out from under him, the man's arms windmilled for a few seconds that had Laura in giggles, he then landed flat on his back with an exhale of air. Asami's eyes lit up with barely pent up rage, her eyes had settled on to her next victim. She rolled towards him, kicked him between the legs as hard as she could and forced him into the path of one of Lin's cables. His neck snapped with a sickening crunch when the cable wrapped itself around his throat and tightened of its own accord

'my men..." the last man standing gasped, he had a machine gun and was pointing it at the car. "stop or I shoot!"

A fraction of a second later, he found himself get jabbed in the backside with something, he felt his vision get blurry but he knew he had to pull himself together. "you will not hurt those kids!" a voice declared behind him then, seconds later, Laura was on top of him, screaming and stabbing. The man made a final strangled cry then fell unconscious. "lucky you're in the right place" he sighed and pressed his emergency button. "go" he added

"thank you, Doctor Farr"

"You're welcome"

*

Asami, Lin and Kya got back in to the car as quickly as they could and they drove away. They heard Doctor Farr say "there must've been quite the fight out here" to one of his colleagues before their car doors shut

"I can't believe he's covering for us" Lin smiled though

"Let's go, Eliz" Asami muttered, she was again sitting next to Elizabeth in the front of the car, Korra was sitting next to Rebecca who was in the middle back seat with Laura on her other side, and Kya and Lin were in the very back again.

"Such a nice man" Korra was moving her hands around Rebecca's head, following Kya's instructions.

"we'll have to give him something on our way back to our cave"

"Yup. You know it's lucky you chose to do this during the examination period. Not much work for lecturers or technicians"

"I guess you're right, Eliz"

They rejoined the road that would take them all the way to Montreal, Elizabeth put the cruise control on and they all relaxed back into the last leg of their journey, Elizabeth had picked up a cell phone on her way to the hotel the day before. Once her two hour stint of driving was over, she used the time to call her medical team. "hi, is that Doctor Smith?"

"Yes, Doctor Smith speaking"

"it's Elizabeth Shaw"

"hello, Elizabeth, you're not due a review for another three months, or at least that's what I thought"

"I'm not calling about that"

"Oh?"

"I'm calling on behalf of a friend, Katy Shu, and her daughter Rebecca"

"Rebecca Shu?" the voice inquired, "i received a phone call yesterday about a Rebecca Shu who had sustained a brain injury and required rehabilitation"

"That's the one. My friend, Katy has coma induced atrophy as well as a stoma and surgically placed catheter"

"oh really?"

"Yes"

"I was wondering if you'd be able to see her and perhaps recommend a treatment regime?"

"oh, yes, of course" he paused, "but they're not covered by the Canadian health care system?"

"My friend, Emerald Shu, Katy's girlfriend and Rebecca's mother will be able to pay for any treatment or consultations"

"Alright then, when will you be arriving?"

"today. We've had a fairly long drive though"

"alright, well I'll be free after four"

"see you after four. Thank you, Doctor Shaw"

"You're welcome, Elizabeth"

Elizabeth put the phone down and smiled. "sorted" she declared

"excellent" Kya's smile could be heard on her voice

*

They drove the last few hundred miles and were in Montreal by eleven.

"Find a hotel" Asami said

"Get food" Korra grumbled

" _'sleep'_ " Kya's voice was low and husky, indicating to everyone old enough to understand that _sleep_ was the last thing on her mind

"Oooh sounds _nice_ " Lin replied

"and at four, go see the doctor to see about getting your insides sorted, Korra, as well as your scoliosis and mobility, and Rebecca's brain and speech assessed"

"That sounds like a plan"


	14. Appropriate Medical Care

"Hello, my name is Jonathan Smith, you must be Rebecca?" he smiled at the fourteen year old in the wheelchair who smiled back nervously, her head against the headrest that had been hurriedly bolted to the chair just before they left, "and you most be Katy?"

"yes, that's me" Korra nodded

"hey, Elizabeth"

"Hey Jon"

"You must be Emerald?" Asami nodded, "and who's this?" he knelt down to Laura's height and she moved back timidly

"Laura, my other daughter" Korra put her hand on Laura's shoulder while Lin and Kya moved in protectively

"Nice to meet you, Laura" he moved back away when he saw Lin and Kya towering over him, "she is perfectly safe here" he explained to Lin and Kya

"Leanne" Lin declared bluntly

"Katherine" Kya said, holding out her hand for the doctor to shake, she was a little more open to human interaction than Lin

"Nice to meet you, now, shall get down to business?" he gestured into a largish office. Once they were all in, he shut the door and sat down, "can you tell me why you're here?"

"of course" Elizabeth nodded, "Emerald? You probably have a better idea of what Katy's issues are than me"

"Yeah, sorry, of course" Asami looked at Korra who nodded, "my girlfriend, Katy, was put into a medically induced coma by some imbeciles who didn't know what they were doing. She was in that coma for many years until my mom, Leanne, found her and got her out. We recently were able to wake her from the coma but she has lasting difficulties aside from the atrophy which cause her immense distress and difficulty"

"describe them to me?"

"Well, starting from the top, she had a surgically placed tracheostomy to replace the function of her own muscles. Her lungs have got better and she can breathe on her own now, but..."

"you'd still like to have it checked out?"

"Yes" Asami nodded an affirmative, "moving down, she can't really move her arms or legs that easily without these braces"

"Who made the braces for her?"

"I did"

"you?"

"Emerald Shu, certified Orthotist at your service" she bobbed her head and Korra laughed out loud

"well I have to admit I'm a little surprised" he muttered

"my girlfriend means the world to me, I'd do anything for her" Asami explained

"I see..."

"anyway, these braces are powered, so they can give the support that she needs, as well as help her move her arms and legs"

"ingenious"

"I thought so myself"

" what's this for?" he indicated the solid trunk brace

"Katy was incorrectly aligned for the majority of the time she spent in a coma, therefore she has severe scoliosis. The TLSO brace was the only option available to us at the time, I am aware there may be surgical options to correct it though"

"What idiots... What idiots would look at this poor girl and say that she was properly cared for?"

"I ask myself that every single day" Asami muttered, her eyes appeared to catch fire and burn in her skull

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Katy also has a surgically placed catheter and a stoma"

"oh yes, Elizabeth said so yesterday" he finished tapping the keyboard and turned back to Korra and Asami, "the stoma and catheter can be sorted today, and we can also take scans to see about Katy's scoliosis and to ensure her tracheostomy is healed properly today. As for her atrophy, I don't know if there's much we can do except prescribe physiotherapy"

"I understand"

"Now, on to Rebecca"

"right, I'm not really sure what happened, we were enjoying a bit of a break from our long journey here"

"Where did you come from?"

 _Shit_."North Dakota"

"quite the journey then?"

"Yes, well I was lucky enough to meet Eliz here who recommended her medical team"

"That seems quite fortunate indeed, anyway, you were telling me what happened?"

"Yes, well Rebecca was playing and she must've tripped, slipped or just fallen. Laura saw her on the ground and dragged us over, Rebecca spoke briefly to us, she recognised us and said our names but by the time we had got to the nearest hospital, Toronto, she wasn't able to speak."

"Yes, Doctor Farr said he had removed the bone fragments from Rebecca's brain as well as given her something called a ventriculoperitoneal shunt to help regulate the damage, and that he'd patched her skull up. I see she's also got a nasogastric tube?"

"Doctor Farr thought it was a good idea to get her checked out by the neuro team here before she started eating again" Asami explained

"Makes sense"

"so what can you do?"

"as I said, I'll book Katy in for corrective surgery to remove the catheter and stoma and give her her original functionality back again, however, just so you're aware" he was now speaking directly to Korra, "you may have some difficulty with certain things, at first"

Korra nodded, "can't be as bad as having to stick a bag to your stomach that means you are unable to lie on your front or side for fear of rupturing it and getting shit all over your bed, right?"

"No, I guess not"

"and that catheter is just bloody uncomfortable"

"well I've just booked you in for those surgeries, as well as the necessary scans, you will have to stay overnight though"

"Fine"

"and I've booked Rebecca in for her scans as well"

"Thank you"

"I'll her a nurse to take you to a room, I'm guessing you'll all want to stick together"

"uh huh"

"Very well"

*

"Hello, Nurse, would you mind taking this family to a room?"

"of course, Doctor, will you please follow me?"

"Do I know you?" Lin asked, her detective instinct kicking in

"My name is Kuvira"

"The nurse from Toronto?"

"The very same" Kuvira nodded, "i also happen to know your sister"

"Suyin?!" Lin yelped in shock

"yes, she asked me to slip out and come after you, I'm to provide whatever backup I can"

"so you became a nurse?"

"yes. Seemed the logical decision to make based on how they treated Korra"

"Ahem, Katy"

"sorry"

"How did you get out?"

"I snuck out on one of the airplanes that carried Raiko's assassins to mainland South America"

"and you knew we'd run there, how?"

"lucky guess. Well, here we are. Guess I'd better go and hand my notice in"

"so you can return to safety, tell Suyin we're fine and stay put"

"I was ordered to help you"

"we don't need your help"

"so having a qualified nurse around would be a hindrance?"

Kuvira watched as Lin's counterarguments died in her throat, "no"

"Thought so"

Kuvira directed them into their new room where another bed had been quickly wheeled in.

"you lot go get a hotel, me and Rebecca will be fine here" Korra stated once she and Asami had lifted Rebecca out of the wheelchair and on to the bed. Korra sat down next to Rebecca's bed and began to move her fingers in the intricate movements required to braid her hair

"mommy"

"yes, Laura?"

"I want to stay here too"

"I brought this" Asami threw Laura a sleeping bag, she caught it and smiled at Asami

"Thanks, mama"

"you lot get back soon" Korra called, "i have no idea when I'm due in surgery"

"alright, Katy" Asami called back before they left to go and find a hotel to stay in.

*

"Katy Shu?"

"that's me"

"we're ready for you in prep"

"alright" Korra gulped and prepared herself for surgery

Korra was shown into prep where she was taken out of her braces and led back on the bed, she hissed in pain when the IV line was inserted into her hand.

"Sorry, Katy" it was Kuvira

"Breathe in deeply then count to ten" Kuvira had put a mask over Korra's face, her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off into a peacefully dreamless sleep

*

"Come on sweetie, time to wake up"

"yes, that's right Katy, Come on"

 _Katy? Who the fuck's Katy?_

"come on, sweetie"

"L... Lin?"

"she's delirious" a voice exclaimed

"no, it's fine, nurse Joy, she'll be alright in a second" that voice also sounded familiar

 _Why aren't they replying? Why are they calling this Katy person delirious?!"_ Korra was beginning to feel the panic building

"come on Katy"

 _That Katy can't be very well, oh hang on, I'm Katy_ Korra realised. "mmphh?" she groaned

"Yes, Katy come on"

 _What was Lin's other name?_ "mom?" _safer than making a mistake_

"Yes, Katy, I'm here"

Kya moved into Korra's limited field of vision, "mama?"

"Yes, Katy" Kya whispered

"Where's...?"shit can't remember her name either, can't exactly call her Asami!

"Emerald is right here"

"Katy"

"Emerald, sweetie" Korra weakly lifted her arms a few inches but was unable to move them higher and the strain of keeping them up was increasing by the second.Shit

"come here, you" Asami cuddled into her and whispered sweet nothings into her ear

"where's Laura? And Rebecca? And Eliz?"

"back in the room" Kya replied, "how do you feel?"

"sore"

"Oh sweetie" Asami gently stroked Korra's hair and cuddled her.

"My tummy hurts" Korra groaned, Asami looked down at her stomach, she had been trying to avoid looking at what had been Korra's scar free stomach. There was a massive dressing below her tummy button where she had been opened up so the surgical team could reattach her innards correctly, she had another dressing covering where her stoma had been, and another dressing lower down where the surgically placed catheter had been. "ow" she hissed

"Are you in pain?" Kuvira's voice reached her through the haze of pain

"yes" Korra sighed

"I'll get you some morphine, hang on" Kuvira rushed off and returned minutes later, she inserted the syringe into Korra's IV and pushed the liquid into her vein

"wow" Korra looked to one side then the other, seemingly entranced by the medication's effect on her senses. "that stuff's good"

"Better?"

"Yeah"

*

Two hours later, Korra was moved from recovery back to her room, Laura jumped on her bed and led so her head was on Korra's chest. "hey, Laura"

"mommy"

"she was so scared" Elizabeth explained

"I'm otay sweetie" Korra smiled when Laura nuzzled into her.

"K...?" A weak voice whispered one letter but couldn't finish the word

"Rebecca?" Korra turned to face Rebecca who was led on the other bed. "I'm here"

The light reflected off of Rebecca's tear stained face. "oh Rebecca" Asami moved away from Korra and hugged Rebecca

"it seems we've picked up another granddaughter" Lin whispered to Kya

"yup" Kya couldn't keep her excitement hidden. While Korra was in surgery, Rebecca had the scans that she needed, they were now waiting for those results as well as Korra's since before she went under the knife, they had done Korra's full body MRI scans


	15. Rebecca's Deepest Desire

"It looks quite good, considering" Doctor Smith spoke to his colleagues and pointed out several areas of damage while comparing it to a scan that had only been taken a number of hours before.

"yeah... She still has a fair amount of contusion here, here and here, which explains why she is unable to talk, but all in all it's remarkable she's shown this much progress in such a short period of time"

"It is, but let's not worry about that, let's see what we can do to help this poor girl" secretly, Kuvira was the driving force behind Doctor Smith's medical team

"What she said" Jonathan Smith was secretly very disapproving of his best nurse's decision to hand her notice in. She had simply thanked him for the chance she had been given but she wanted to get on with her own goals and become the private nurse she had always wanted to be. She had been in his staff for a number of years having joined as a completely unqualified health care assistant before working her way through the various qualifications until she became a fully qualified nurse practitioner. Little did he know, she already had been given a secret mission by her mother, Suyin Beifong. Find Lin, Korra and Asami, protect them and help them in any way she can. She had been scheduled to stay at Toronto's primary emergency room for another five weeks, but she knew that Korra and her little group were going to Montreal, and she had to be there to help them. She couldn't wait to be able to use her secret skillset once again, Kuvira was a metalbender of rare talent and had occasionally used it to help her achieve a focus in scans that the other nurses had never been able to achieve.

"this poor girl" one of the other doctors sighed, _admittedly, she wasn't nearly as unwell as the girl called Katy, but that at least, could be treated and hopefully fixed_

"Right, so, Kuvira?"

"yes, Doctor?"

"Run us through the scans you took of Katy?" they had finished discussing Rebecca and were now moving on to Korra

"Well, she has a pretty significant scoliosis here" she indicated on the scan, "but except from the stoma and catheter, which are both fixed now, and the feeding button, which we decided to leave in just in case she has difficulty now her innards are back together, she's not actually in that much of a bad shape. I believe the scoliosis to be severe enough to warrant surgery but I'm just the nurse." Jonathan smiled inwardly at their little joke, experience wise, Kuvira was more qualified than more than half his team. Only he and a few other key members had been practicing for longer than Kuvira, he, his GI doctor, and gynecologist were the only people. "honestly, I believe we should be more worried about Rebecca

"very well" Doctor Smith declared.

*

"Rebecca?" Asami's voice echoed through the void that had surrounded Rebecca since her fall. "Rebecca? Time to wake up sweetie, open those beautiful brown eyes of yours"

 _Ugh fuck off already_

"Rebecca?"

 _Wait... Is that Asami?_ "A...?" _fuck I still can't fucking say more than one fucking syllable!_

"I'm here, Rebecca"

"Is she awake?"

 _Isn't that Korra's voice?_

"yes"

"oh thank fuck for that"

"Mama?"

 _Laura?_

"yes, she's waking up now, Laura"

"I was scared mama"

 _Mama?_

"keep it up Nana"

 _Nana?Rebecca thought,my head hurts... Not from... Whatever it was that happened_

"I'm doing the best I can, Laura"

 _Wait who's that? I recognise the voice but can't place the name_

"good work sweetie"

 _Lin?_

"my Nana is a damn good healer, isn't she mom?

 _This mystery woman is Korra's mama?_

"yes, my Kya is a very good healer, the best there is"

 _If this Kya is Korra's mama and Lin is Korra's mommy, then they must be who Laura was talking about, Kya must be Laura's Nana_

"Gran-Gran?"

Oh for fuck's sake

"yes, Laura?"

 _Lin is Laura's Gran-Gran? Kinda makes sense I guess_

"I need cuddles"

"what, mama Asami and mommy Korra aren't enough?"

"no"

"Oh, Laura"

"mommy" Korra sighed

 _As soon as I get my voice back I'll ask them to draw me a family tree or something_

"What's wrong, Rebecca?"

 _I wish I could fucking speak_

"hey, 'Sami?"

"Yes, Korra?"

"Remember what we did at first?"

"oh... Why didn't I think of that?" Asami disappeared off but soon returned. She gently put something into Rebecca's hands and she opened her eyes a little, her head still sore from surgery

 _The fuck am I supposed to do with a pad?_

"Rebecca, do you remember how to write?" there was no reply so Asami gently took Rebecca's hand and placed it on her hand. "one squeeze for yes"

 _They're trying to find a way for me to be able to communicate!_ Rebecca weakly squeezed Asami's hand

"she does!" Asami smiled widely. "now, now Rebecca could you write your name?"

 _Fuck, we might be on to something here_. She forced her hand to move and, with Asami helping to support the pen a little, Rebecca wrote her name

"Good girl" Asami smiled widely

Rebecca then put pen to paper again and wrote '¿quien es quien?'

"who's who?" Lin asked and Rebecca gave Asami's hand a single squeeze

"yes..."

"¿Quieres saber quién está relacionado con quién en nuestra pequeña familia?" Laura spoke up. One squeeze and a nod from Asami was all Laura needed. "Asami, or Emerald as she's called now while we're out of our cave, is my mama. Korra, or Katy, is my mommy. Lin, or Lianne is my Gran-Gran and Kya, or Katherine is my Nana" Laura spoke in English but it was enough to help Rebecca understand the structure of their family

"and Leanne is our" Asami indicated herself and Korra "mommy while Katherine is our mama"

 _Sounds easy enough..._

"and this is Elizabeth, a family friend"

 _Finally_. Rebecca gave them all a little wave

"y nos gustaría que también seas parte de nuestra familia, Rebecca" Asami had spoken her first words in Spanish and even though she spoke haltingly and had difficulty with pronunciation, she got the point across because Rebecca went slack jawed in shock. Unlike Laura, who had some semblance of family until her surrogate mother died, she hadn't ever known her family

 _She can't be serious!_ Rebecca was reluctant to accept at first but when Asami's expression didn't change, she realised just how serious she was. _She means it... I don't know what to do._ Rebecca paused her monologue to look at Asami who looked absolutely terrified, _she's scared I'll say yes or is she scared I'll say no?_ She decided in a heartbeat and squeezed Asami's hand. Yes, _yes to being a member of the family_

Asami breathed a visible sigh of relief, "she does want to"

Korra's face lit up from her bed which rolled closer to Rebecca's of its own accord. "welcome to our family, Rebecca, mydaughter"

That was too much for Rebecca and she began to cry.I have a family. She felt five pairs of arms wrap around her and cuddle her close. _Lin, Kya, Asami, Korra and Laura are hugging me!!_

*

"Aww sweet" Kuvira had slipped through the door to find everyone hugging Rebecca. Rebecca and Korra on their beds but Korra still managed to hug Rebecca, Asami was on the other side and hugging Rebecca, Laura was led on Korra's bed and she was also hugging Rebecca. Lin sat by Asami's side and was holding Rebecca's hand while Kya stood next to her bed and was working with some water. Lin looked up in surprise but when she saw who it was she relaxed.

"Hey, Kuvira" Kya smirked at the younger woman

"Kya" Kuvira smiled, "well I'm here to tell you that Korra... Uh Katy, is gonna have spine surgery tomorrow morning and that Rebecca's brain already looks a lot better than it would've without your help, Kya"

"Great to know" Lin sighed, she had been watching the younger woman with something that looked almost like distaste

"I can feel your enraged breathing from over here, Lin"

"Why did Su send you after us, does she think we're so incapable of taking care of her?"

"Lin..." Kya tried to interrupt the verbal attack

"no, Kya I'm sick of Suyin thinking she knows what's best for absolutely everyone!"

"sorry about her, Kuvira, she's just stressed and upset"

"i know, Kya"

"Doesn't help my mood when my girlfriend tries to undermine me"

"See this is exactly why Su sent her" Lin glared at Kya but she continued anyway, "because you're so fucking stubborn and fucking rigid in your fucking belief that you can go it alone, you refuse to accept all help. You refused my help didn't you? You disappeared without even telling me where you were going, and I'm probably the best healer in the world. Kuvira is a loyal daughter of a Beifong, what more could you want? What happens if something DOES happen to you or me?" Kya was now glaring at Lin, "what then? Korra and Asami would probably be fine, but what about Laura?!" the young girl stirred at her name but kept on sleeping, "would SHE be alright without us?! Sure, Korra would continue to protect her and maybe even risk herself for her daughter, and if she got injured or killed then what?! Asami would have to look after Laura and unlike Laura she doesn't have magical healing powers"

"what you're trying to say is that the more the merrier because it gives us a greater chance of being able to care for those we love?"

"Precisely."

"besides, I thought you'd like a taste of home" Kuvira walked up to Lin without fear, she put her backpack down on the bed and pulled out a bottle. "Fire Whisky, from the best Fire Whisky brewery in the United Republic"

"oh wow... Zuko's Fire Whisky... A really old Zuko's Fire Whisky. This must've been worth a small fortune this one bottle"

"It was. I come off shift at eight this evening, and I'm coming up here with this and some plastic glasses"

"What's the point in calling them glasses if they're plastic?" Korra's grumpy morning voice echoed through the room

"No idea, sweetie..." Lin chuckled

"see you at eight, or earlier"

"Don't forget the coffee for this one, she has surgery tomorrow"

"i wouldn't worry, Varrick Industries has come up with a cure for drunkenness, with a little help from yours truly, of course"


	16. Surgical Procedures

"Cheers!" Kuvira raised her glass to the others and they mimicked her

"Holy shit!" Korra exclaimed

"like it?" Kuvira asked

"Yeah...!" Korra sipped her whisky and smiled

"careful, Korra" Asami gasped when Korra tipped her head back and finished the glass in a single gulp

"another!" Korra gasped, she fell back and was immediately out of it

"Quicker than singing her to sleep" Asami commented

"She's certainly a lightweight"

"That doesn't do it justice" Kya sighed

"This might not have been a good idea..." Kuvira put her head in her hands

"get rid of that glass, I'll work on Korra" Kya moved to Korra and began extracting the alcohol from Korra's stomach. Kuvira chucked the plastic glass out of the window

"Lucky I resigned earlier today"

"you resigned?!" Lin exclaimed, "why?!"

"because I'm coming with you?" Kuvira replied

"Kuvira... You can't become a fugitive on our account"

"Fugitive from who?" Kuvira replied "I'm already a fugitive as far as the Republic City authorities are concerned. Raiko didn't like me anyway"

"fugitive from the authorities here too"

"ah well. I was asked to come"

"Suyin asked you to become a fugitive?"

"No. But I asked her what I could do"

"Oh. Right."

"I'm with you all the way"

"Kuvira... No"

"it's my choice" Kuvira said simply

"true"

"You gonna finish yours?" Kya asked

Lin replied by drinking the last of her glass

"Kuvira?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"what... What are you doing?"

"catching up with some old friends?"

"You know these people?"

"I know these four, yes. I know Leanne, Katherine, Katy and Emerald, I have to admit I don't know Laura or Rebecca"

"that's because you haven't seen us for many, many years" Asami replied. "Kuvira was a friend of ours when we were little kids"

"oh right, well just make sure Katy doesn't have any of that stuff" Doctor Smith stated firmly

"Of course, Doctor. You want one?"

"No thanks, I've got a double shift, I'm covering for a colleague until midnight"

"Alright"

"It's just a shame you'll be leaving soon"

"I'll become the private nurse, for those two" Kuvira indicated Korra and Rebecca

"Those two are lucky" Doctor Smith muttered

"I want to help them get better"

"Korra and Rebecca seem quite peaceful"

"They're exhausted" Laura spoke for the first time, she was lying next to Rebecca and cuddling into Korra

"Well goodnight, Laura"

"Night" Laura smiled at the doctor as he left, leaving Lin, Kya and Asami to sort Korra out for the night

*

"Good morning, Korra"

"Mmmphh"

"Korra?"

"You what?"

"It's Kuvira"

"G'way"

"Korra does your head hurt?"

"no, 'm pretty groggy though"

"come on Korra... Drink this coffee"

"Thank you" Korra smiled up at Kuvira while she helped Korra with the polystyrene cup

"Good morning Korra"

"who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Aidan James, senior surgeon"

"Kuvy?"

"Aidan is fine, Katy"

"I'm here to take your bloods and OBS in preparation for your surgery later today"

"Surgery?"

"yes, we're going to fix your scoliosis"

"About time"

"i apologise for the delay"

"it's nothing"

The doctor quickly finished taking the blood and nodded at the doctor "there you go, Katy"

"thank you, doctor"

"you're welcome. I'll be back later to see you just before your surgery"

*

"Take a deep breath, Ko... uh Katy" Kuvira was gentle but firm

"I don't wanna"

"Katy..."

"Fine" Korra pouted and took the deep breath, she slowly passed out, the fear she was feeling mounted while she felt her consciousness slipping.

"I'm here, Korra" was the last thing she heard, Asami had barely whispered in her ear and she calmed immediately

"out" Kuvira ordered

"Fuck you, Kuvira" Asami replied, she reluctantly turned away and stormed out of the prep room. Asami kicked a chair in the waiting room then sat down and was quickly joined by Laura. "Laura?"

"mama"

"Why aren't you still tucked up in bed? It's only seven"

"couldn't sleep, mama, they woke me mama"

"oh, Laura" Asami sighed a deep sigh, she then held her arms out for Laura, she ran into them and jumped up on Asami's lap

*

"Jesus H Christ" Doctor Smith muttered. He, Doctor James and Kuvira stood around Korra who was led face down on the operating table under heavy anaesthetic. Korra's brace had improved the scoliosis, but only slightly, her back was still out by more than seventy five degrees. They hadn't seen a scoliosis this bad for years but they soon realised that they had to do even more work. "we're not going to get away with a traditional spinal fusion, folks, we're going to need a new approach" it wasn't often that the experienced team underestimated their task, but this was one of those times. "i think we're going to have to go for a Vertebral Column Resection, people. Thankfully, Katy is young so she'll most likely bounce back, we can't use a fusion because we'd need to fuse too many bones and that'd impair Katy too much" the surgical procedure involved detaching the entire spine and adjusting it manually, fortunately, Doctor Smith and Doctor James were among some of the best surgeons in the world. "Kuvira, go and get a few more nurses"

"yes, doctor"

The surgery was long and arduous, taking the vast majority of the day to complete even the initial and very delicate separation process, in the meantime, several nurses and another doctor went through some simulations to test out different positions and methods of refusing the spine to Korra. In the end they found the most suitable technique and passed it on to the surgical team who then set about ensuring the spine was in the position the simulations had suggested.

*

"how much longer?!" Asami had been sitting alone in the waiting room for six hours, the last time she had seen one of the others was when Lin came down to take Laura away to take her out and get her breakfast. Lin, Laura, Kya and Elizabeth had taken Rebecca out in a wheelchair to a fancy cafe. Even though she remained unable to speak, Rebecca's feeding tube had been removed and she had been cleared to eat normally.

"Hey, Asami" Kya had joined her this time

"mama Kya" Asami sighed, she leaned back against the older woman who wrapped her arms around her daughter

"How's it going?"

"No idea"

"It's been..."

"nearly ten hours mama"

"that can't be right... Normally spinal fusions don't tend to take that long?"

"Wouldn't know, mama"

"Hey"

"Afternoon, Eliz"

"Thought I'd come down and sit with you for a while, Asami"

Asami looked around nervously. "thanks" she smiled genuinely at her friend

"well I've spent some time with the others and I'm supposed to be your friend so..."

"It's alright, Eliz" Asami reassured her friend. "so long as you had fun"

"We did, we walked around Montreal for a while, I then took Lin and the others to my parents house, Kya made her way back here"

"took me an hour to get back which is why I only just came in"

"Laura is happily entertained playing a dancing game on the Wii, Lin is there with her, me and Rebecca came back here, I called an ambulance transport to pick us both up, Rebecca is resting in the room, Kya, will you go be with her?"

"sure" Kya hurried off

"How long has it been?"

"Nearly ten hours, Eliz"

"that can't be right"

Suddenly a completely exhausted looking nurse staggered out of the theatre. She fell heavily into one of the seats nearest the theatre, her eyes looked completely glazed so Asami wasn't surprised she hadn't seen them. Her hair was dishevelled and a mess, her uniform was covered in red stains, especially her sleeves. "she must've just been relieved" Asami whispered so to not disturb the nurse

"Uh huh"

A few minutes later, Kuvira walked out. She looked as exhausted as the other nurse but she was handling it better. "ladies" she smiled and walked up to them, taking off her overalls which looked as stained as the other nurse's and she chucked them down on an unoccupied seat

"What the... Kuvira?"

"Sorry... It's been hell"

"What do you mean?"

"Doctor Smith decided to change the planned surgical procedure because he and the others realised that the original procedure, a spinal fusion, would be no good for Katy. She was just too badly affected by the scoliosis so we had to try another procedure, a Vertebral Column Resection. The doctors detached Katy's whole spine, realigned it and her body without the curve and as we speak, they're just doing the delicate job of rejoining the two. She should be out in another few hours... Now if you'd excuse me, I'm going to have a shower and go home"

"Right, Kuvira, see ya" Elizabeth called while Asami just sat there in shock, staring at the other nurse who was snoring quietly. "Emerald?"

"What?" Asami had been shaken out of it

"Doctor Smith will succeed, he's probably the best surgeon and doctor out there, naturally gifted, and Aidan James is probably the best spine surgeon in the whole world. I'd trust them with my life" Elizabeth giggled at her own joke before quickly sobering up, "sorry"

"it's alright, Eliz" Asami smiled, "it was funny"

"good"

*

It was another nine hours before anyone else came out of the operating theatre, Asami was led curled up on one of the couches in the waiting room, Elizabeth was by her side although she too had drifted off. "Miss Shu?"

"yes?" Asami replied groggily, although she quickly woke up when she realised where she was and why, "yes, Doctor Smith?"

"we have completed the surgery"

"good"

"And she's just been moved into recovery, you can go and see her if you wish but she's still asleep"

"thank you"

"you go see her I'll get the others"

"Alright"

"Also, Miss Shu?"

"Yes?"

"we'd like to discuss bracing at some point before she's discharged, normally we wouldn't recommend it but... With Katy's muscles as atrophied as they are, it's a necessity"

"i understand"

"And we'd like to consult with you because you made her last set of braces with a technique we are unfamiliar with"

"We can set up a meeting for tomorrow or the next day, now I'm going to go and be with my girlfriend"

"Alright" Asami nodded her thanks and sprinted down the corridor around the operating theatre, she placed her foot on the wall just before the corridor cornered and she kicked off, allowing her to take the corner at speed. She continued running to the recovery ward and opened the door quietly, she slipped into the room and quickly located Korra's bed.

"Katy" she whispered

*

"Yea, she's just got out of surgery, she's still in a deep sleep though, Leanne" Rebecca and Kya watched with interest as Elizabeth talked to Lin on a wall phone. "uh huh" Elizabeth nodded a few times, "yup, yup and I'll call as soon as she's beginning to come round. Otay, bye"

"done?"

"Done. Let's go see your daughter, Kya, and your mommy, Rebecca"

Rebecca quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper, Elizabeth moved closer in order to read it, 'no puedo esperar', Elizabeth held it up to Kya who interpreted, "Rebecca can't wait"

"Then let's go" they gently placed Rebecca in her wheelchair and nearly ran to the recovery ward. "Emerald"

"my daughter"

"A..."

Asami moved over to them, she quickly hugged Elizabeth, "Eliz", she cuddled Kya, "mama" and cuddled and kissed Rebecca, "my beautiful daughter, Rebecca, you can call me mama too"

"M..."

"Try again, Rebecca"

"ma"

"Closer!" Asami smiled encouragingly

"mama" Rebecca sat back in amazement, "mama" she repeated

"Well done, sweetie!"


	17. Making a House a Home

"mama" Rebecca whispered, a huge grin plastered on her face

"Rebecca!!" Laura had just walked in with Lin by her side, her smile immediately reflected Rebecca's

"Lau..."

"Nearly, Rebecca. Lau-ra"

"Lau-ra?" Laura smiled happily at her best friend, "Laura" she repeated

"well done" Asami's voice was filled with pride

"bien hecho" Laura added her congratulations

"She knows how to say both 'mama' and 'Laura', mom!" Asami exclaimed

"I heard" Lin knelt next to her granddaughter's bed and held her hand. "well done, Rebecca"

Rebecca simply smiled, there was a groan from the bed in front of them. "Katy" Kya whispered, "come on sweetie, time to wake up"

"Ugh. My fucking back kills" Korra's voice she usually only used in the morning echoed around the room, evidencing how much pain she was in

"I'll get a nurse to get you some painkillers" Elizabeth quickly wheeled out of the room, shutting the door behind her

"Korra" Asami whispered, "Korra we're all here"

"thank... Thank the spirits or gods or whatever it is, if anything. How's Rebecca?"

"She's fine... Korra, she can..."

"Mom?"

"Rebecca?"

"Mom?"

"yes, Rebecca, I'm otay, don't worry I'll be alright" Korra then reached out weakly and gently stroked her newly adopted daughter's cheek. "Asami asked you if you'd like to join our family then?" Rebecca nodded, "good. I'm glad" Korra lowered her arm again, without the braces and with the pain she was in she was only able to keep it up for a few seconds and even that made her feel dizzy.

"It was your idea, Korra"

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?" Korra smiled through her pain, Rebecca sensed that she was in pain and reached out to gently hold Korra's shoulders. Rebecca made a motion that Asami understood immediately. She got the pad out and handed it to Rebecca who wrote one word, 'gracias'. "de nada" Korra replied

"and you were there when I asked her"

"Oh" Korra blushed

"Korra, Rebecca also knows how to say 'mama' and 'Laura'"

"Really? I'm so proud of you Rebecca!"

*

"Hey, Katy, how are you feeling?" it was a different nurse, Elizabeth wheeled in behind him and smiled slightly at Asami.

"hurts" Korra replied

"well I've got some morphine here for you" the nurse replied, he made quick work of attaching the syringe to Korra's mess of intravenous tubing and injecting the drug

"that's the stuff" Korra grunted and relaxed

"sorry" Elizabeth began once the nurse had left the room, "i tried to find Kuvira but that nurse stopped my aimless wanderings and asked me if I was otay"

"It's fine, Eliz" Asami reassured her

"Korra?" Elizabeth moved to her bed

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, Elizabeth, don't worry"

"I'm your friend, of course I'm going to worry" Elizabeth smiled gently, "yanno, I'm really quite glad I met you lot, I didn't have many friends" she explained

"You have some now"

"I've always been self-conscious since it happened"

"What happened, Eliz?" Asami's voice was very gentle, even pained

"I was hurt when I was a lot younger, airplane crash. Me and my parents were on one of those one engined Cessna planes, the engine was hit by something, maybe a bird and it broke at the same time we were passing over the tips of some mountains and without our engine we couldn't clear them. Our wings were torn off and we plummeted. My parents were thrown clear but me and the pilot were still in the craft. My parents suffered some broken bones and the pilot was killed instantly. I, on the other hand, had extensive damage to my spine and spinal cord. I've been in a wheelchair ever since, for as long as I can remember"

"How old were you when this happened?"

"two? Three?"

"younger than me" Korra looked saddened

"hey, hey, it's alright" Elizabeth whispered, gently resting her head next to Korra's, "no need to cry"

"I'm sorry, Eliz" Korra reached out and held her hand tightly. "please don't leave our little family"

"I'm not going to, Korra" Elizabeth paused, "promise me that if we're ever separated you'll always stay in touch, even if it's just a blank postcard?"

"i promise" Korra replied

"I promise" Asami declared firmly

*

"hello all"

"Doctor Smith!" the family had been sitting around Korra's bed while she slept peacefully, the morphine and exhaustion enough to knock anyone out

"i came to check on you all, I went to your room but it was empty so I reasoned you'd all be down here with Katy"

"yup"

"is she alright?"

"just tired and in pain" Asami's eyes glinted excitedly, she hugged Rebecca with one arm and whispered "show the doctor what you can do?"

"mama" Rebecca replied, her eyes also glinted, she turned to Korra and gently placed her hand on her cheek, "mommy" and finally she turned to Laura, "sis-ter, Laura"

"oh wow... Rebecca!" congratulation!" he smiled regardless of the tiring surgery he had performed earlier and the few hours he had been sitting drinking coffee and trying to focus on paperwork. "Rebecca, do you want to go home?"

Rebecca looked up, confusion evident in her eyes, she looked around at her new family but then she looked at Korra. She didn't know what she wanted. She knew Laura and the others would be going back to Elizabeth's house, as they had discussed it and included her and Korra in all the conversations but she didn't want to leave Korra. "what are you thinking, sweetie?" Asami asked, she pulled the pad out for Rebecca and handed it to her. It took Rebecca a few moments to write down her thoughts but soon enough she was done. She handed the pad back to Asami, 'quiero irme de este lugar sombrío y dormir en una cama cómoda, así como tener algo de comida buena, pero no quiero dejar a Korra aquí sola' Asami carefully passed it to Lin to translate

"Rebecca does want to leave the hospital and sleep on a comfortable bed, as well as have some nice food, but she does not want to leave Katy here on her own"

"Katy won't be alone, Rebecca, I'll be staying with her" Kuvira had just entered the room. She had handed her notice in but had still been coming in to help as a nurse until today, she had gone home after the surgery and slept but now she was back and ready to kick start her life as a fugitive. Doctor Smith's eyebrow rose slightly, "Doctor Smith, you know someone with Katy's level of need shouldn't be left alone"

"I do"

"and I don't think Emerald, or any of the others have had much sleep so I'd like to give them the night off"

"Very well, so long as it's alright with them?"

"I'll drive you lot back to the house then I'll come back and keep Kuvira company for a while" Elizabeth suggested

"alright" Asami nodded in agreement, she kissed Korra's cheek and stood, standing behind Rebecca's wheelchair. "i could use some sleep" she admitted

"I'll leave my cell with you when I drop you off and give Kuvira the number so she can call you if we need to talk to you"

"Alright" it was decided. Elizabeth drove Lin, Kya, Asami, Laura and Rebecca back to her house where they all bustled and fought over the two showers, Elizabeth also wanting a shower before she left to return to the hospital. Lin and Kya got in one shower while Elizabeth used the other. Asami meanwhile helped Rebecca wash her hair and back, she was unable to do them properly due to the remnants of her head injury while Laura played on the Wii again. Once Elizabeth had finished her quick ten minute shower she left for the hospital and left her phone on the kitchen worktop with some hastily written notes. Laura sprinted to the shower room and Asami emerged from the bathroom carrying Rebecca who was already in her pajamas and very drowsy. She took Rebecca into one of the bedrooms that had twin beds and quickly slipped her under the covers. Asami spent ten minutes getting some tea for herself and the other adults before Laura came out and Asami directed her to the room where Rebecca was already asleep

"Gracias" Laura murmured sleepily and went off to bed

"Laura? Do you want me to come and sing to you?"

"Yes" Laura replied. Asami finished making tea for Lin and Kya, leaving their mugs out for them, she grabbed her own tea and walked to Laura's new room. Rebecca was already asleep, she didn't wake when Asami began to sing to Laura and very soon both girls were fast asleep

*

"thanks for the tea, Asami" Lin smiled. Asami had made the tea, sung Laura to sleep and has a shower in the time it took Lin and Kya to finish up in the shower. Asami suspected a makeout session but she wasn't about to ask

"It's certainly nicer than that sludge they served us at the hospital, what did Elizabeth call it?"

"Coffee?"

"Yes, that stuff"

"i agree, but it was Elizabeth's suggestion"

Lin took a deep breath and gulped down another mouthful of tea, a cat had settled in her lap and she was just staring at it awkwardly. "sweetie" Kya laughed, "i think it wants you to pet it." Lin immediately began tapping its head, "no sweetie" Kya had grabbed her hand and showed her how to pet a cat. The reward was immediate, the cat began to purr and nuzzled against Lin's hand. "there you go" Kya smiled widely

"Thanks, Kya"

"Do you hear that?" Lin asked

"What?"

"Whimpering"

"no... Rebecca!" Asami cried, she was on her feet and sprinting towards her daughters' room, closely followed by Lin and Kya. The cat, thrown from Lin's lap when she stood up and ran to Rebecca's room walked away with more composure than Lin even though it had just been thrown from a comfortable lap. They ran through the door and found Rebecca curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, Laura still fast asleep. "Rebecca... What's wrong?"

"Mama"

"yes, we're here, Rebecca"

"Mom..."

"you're scared for Korra?" Rebecca nodded. "She's safe in the hospital and perhaps in a few days we'll be able to bring her home too" Asami reassured. She turned to Lin and Kya, "you two go to bed, I'll stay here." Before Lin or Kya could argue she pulled a spare cover from the wardrobe and led on Rebecca's bed after she had lifted Rebecca back on to the bed. Asami led behind Rebecca who was under the first layer of bedding and covered herself with the second set of covers

"She's got this" Lin grunted, let's go to bed. Kya nodded and let herself be guided out of the room by Lin and the sounds of love faintly echoed out from their room but didn't disturb Asami, Laura or Rebecca

*

"Good morning!" Elizabeth had unlocked the door and entered, expecting to see Lin and maybe Asami already ready to go but she was greeted with an empty room. "guys?" she whispered and walked around the house, she found Lin and Kya sleeping on one half of the double bed and Asami with Rebecca.

"hey, Eliz" a little voice called out behind her

"Laura!" Elizabeth turned in surprise

"Hola"

"how was your night?"

"peaceful. I think I heard Rebecca crying at one point but before I could pull myself out of sleep I heard Asami talking to her. How's mommy?"

"Your mommy's just fine. The pain seems to have subsided a fair amount, Kya must've spent some time healing her. I hope she can continue today"

"Good" Laura's voice must've woken Rebecca because Asami walked out blearily while carrying her.

"Morning Eliz, morning Laura" Asami sighed

"mama?"

"yes, Rebecca?" Rebecca planted a kiss on Asami's cheek, Asami stopped but a smile began to form, "i love you too, Rebecca"

"mama!!" Laura bounded over and jumped into Asami's arms as soon as she'd put Rebecca down on a chair by the table. She kissed Asami's cheek too and wrapped her arms tightly around her. "i love you, mama"

"I love you too, Laura" Asami grinned at her daughter, "now would you mind letting go of my neck so I can cook you two some breakfast?"

Laura and Rebecca ate their scrambled eggs quickly, eager to get back to their mother, they were joined by Lin and Kya who kept smiling at each other. "you two look like you've had a _good night_ " Elizabeth commented

"We did" Lin replied, "thank you"


	18. Homecoming

"daddy!!" Laura screamed, she had dozed off in the car on the way to the hospital to see Korra

"Laura?" Rebecca grabbed her hand while Asami reached over and put a reassuring arm around her. Lin and Kya's voices quickly filled the silence with soothing whispers and reassurances. Elizabeth had jumped badly and had swerved but had quickly regained control of the vehicle

"daddy..." Laura repeated, her face soaked with tears. She had been so happy lately but her nightmares had returned with a vengeance without Korra or Asami holding her. She had had another nightmare in the night but had woken up quietly with only a gasp, the first thing she saw was Asami sleeping with her arms around Rebecca and had felt a pang of jealousy. She had cried herself back to sleep but saw no reason to worry her mama with it so she acted as if nothing had happened.

"Laura, you're safe" Asami had whispered gently to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her tightly in the reassuring embrace that Laura had craved since she had woken up earlier that morning. "you're safe"

"my daddy" Laura began and Rebecca covered her mouth with her hand. She had been there of course.

"Your nightmare?" Laura simply nodded, she didn't want to talk about it because it was too painful and she risked triggering the bad memories. Asami, seemingly sensing this, moved her hand to reach for her bag

"no!" Laura shrieked, grabbing at Asami's arm when it moved away from her to get the bag. Rebecca leaned forward to grab the bag, it took a few tries but eventually she had grabbed it and tossed it into the back to Lin and Kya.

"The pad, get it and give it to me"

"alright, Asami"

Asami wrote two words on the piece of paper, 'what happened?' then handed it back to Lin who quickly translated it into Spanish. '¿Qué pasó con el padre de Laura?', she then dropped the pad into Rebecca's lap, with her back to Rebecca, it was difficult for her to hand the pad to her granddaughter. "you're safe, Laura, you're safe. It's over. You're safe and with us, we won't let anyone hurt you" _again_ Asami thought bitterly and regretfully, thinking of what had happened the first time they had stopped for the toilet

While Asami had been continuing to calm Laura, Rebecca had finished her writing and tossed the pad back to Lin who caught it. 'El padre de Laura, Logan, murió en una pelea a puñetazos con uno de los monstruos de Transigen. Él nos estaba protegiendo a nosotros, a mí, a ella y a los otros niños mutantes, y se sacrificó para que pudiéramos escapar. Laura solo lo conoció por una semana más o menos, pero estaba desconsolada', Kya gasped before Asami heard the paper rustle meaning Lin was translating it, growling the whole while. "sorry, it isn't very neat" Lin growled, "I'm going to murder those fucking Transigen scumbags"

Kya nodded forcefully, "and I'm going to be there right by your side, sweetie. Nobody hurts children and gets away with it"

Asami had heard her parents' reaction to what Rebecca had written and had gulped when Lin passed her the pad, much to Laura's distress since it involved removing her arm from around Laura. 'Laura's father, Logan, died in a fistfight with one of Transigen's monsters. He was protecting the mutant children, Rebecca, Laura and the others and he sacrificed himself so they could escape. Laura only knew him for a week or so, but she was disconsolate' a note from Lin also accompanied the paragraph, 'let me kill these motherfucking sick fucks the way Korra did to those assholes before... Laura wasn't just disconsolate then, she still is now'. Asami responded by kissing the top of her daughter's head and wrapping her arms even tighter around her. Asami wanted desperately to take Laura into her arms but she knew it wasn't safe, besides, there was a police car directly in front of them. "Eliz get us there as quickly as you can please"

"only so much I can do, there's a cop car in front of us"

Asami held Laura tightly for the remainder of the journey, they eventually arrived and Asami finally took Laura into her arms. "we'll get Rebecca" Lin grunted, she took the wheelchair out of the back, wheeled it to Rebecca's side of the car and helped her out, Kya took Elizabeth's wheelchair and wheeled it around to Elizabeth

"thank you" Elizabeth whispered

"you're welcome" Kya smiled widely

"You know, Elizabeth" Kya had been joined by Lin, "you're not so bad after all... I kinda like you"

"Thank you, Leanne"

"mama... Mommy" Laura was still shaking and tears still ran down her face

"Come on you lot, Laura wants to see mommy"

"Let's go" they walked quickly to the recovery room where they found a note. "Katy has been moved back to the room"

"Mommy..."

"oh Laura... Your mommy is safe"

*

"Laura!" Korra was leaning against her raised bed which was in the sitting position and twiddling with her thumbs when Asami and Laura burst through the door. "Laura, what's wrong?" Korra's face fell when she saw the way Laura was clinging on to Asami

"She had a nightmare on the way here"

"And last night" Laura whispered in a tiny, defeated voice

"why didn't you tell me sweetie?"

"I didn't want to worry you, besides Rebecca needed you"

"Laura" Korra and Asami moved forward and kissed their daughter's cheeks. "we love you" Asami sat down on Korra's bed and placed Laura next to Korra gently

"Mommy" Laura snuggled into her mother carefully so to not aggravate her back, she was still shaking and it took her a fair amount of time to calm down

*

"you're going to school this coming Monday, Laura"

"School, mama?"

"Yes, school. We thought it'd be good for you to spend some time with other children"

"Mama I want to help mommy"

"I know, there isn't much you can do though and you and Rebecca need to spend some time with other children, we can't justify keeping you isolated especially since we're going to be here another few months at least. She and Korra had spent a fair amount of time in an internet café the day before searching for a suitable school that would be willing to take them. Since so very few mutants remained there was no point even trying to get to Xavier's school since it had been abandoned for many years

"mama" Laura protested

"And I'll be there too, Laura" Elizabeth had just wheeled over carrying some polystyrene cups. "six teas, one Cappuccino and one latte" Elizabeth announced. Korra, Asami, Lin, Kya, Laura and Rebecca took their teas, Korra was wearing her arm braces alone since they could also function independently. It had been two days since Korra woke up from her anaesthetic and she was making slow progress. She was still on bed rest but her spine was much improved. Kuvira took her latte and nodded a thanks to Elizabeth

"you?"

"Yes, I'm going to be acting as Rebecca's learning support assistant, since she's still unable to speak and I'm the only one who understands you two's needs, except from the others of course"

"otay Eliz" Laura smiled

"And you two will be in the same groups across subjects, otay? You won't have to spend time separated"

"what about everyone else?"

"I'll be busy preparing for our next moves" Asami explained

"I'll be trying to find the other mutant children" Lin added, "as well as helping Emerald with the plans" Lin decided to keep her third and final objective private, _I'll also be looking for ways to alert the citizens of Republic City that they've been duped by those sick bastards in charge of the city_

"I'll be taking turns looking after Katy with Kuvira. She'll do physiotherapy and other medical approaches with Katy while I'll be using my abilities to heal her" Kya smiled at Laura and Rebecca, Laura immediately relaxed some more since she knew Korra would be in Kya's capable hands as well as Kuvira's, the latter of whom she didn't trust

"I'll help out where I can" Korra piped up

"No you won't, Katy" Asami replied firmly, "you'll focus on your recovery"

"i want to give school a try, if it's something children normally do"

"it is, Laura, we already have made arrangements for a half day trial on Monday. If you feel alright at lunch you can stay on for the rest of the day but if not you can come back."

"Ah Miss Shu"

"What can I do for you today, Doctor?"

"I'm going to get my staff to run one more scan of Katy's back then, if that's alright, Katy can go home. Kuvira can take care of her, she'll know when to call for help"

"great!"

*

Korra had had her scan and Doctor Smith had looked over the results with a careful eye. "Katy can go home" he concluded then nodded at Kuvira who smiled widely, "I'm going to miss your knack with the scanners, Kuvira" he added sadly

"Sorry, Jon, but Katy is the perfect job for me... Guaranteed work with nice people who aren't at risk of not being able to keep up with payments" Kuvira hated how it sounded, cold and clinical, but she, as well as the others needed everyone to believe she was just doing a job

"You can go... I'll get a patient transport to come take you home"

"they're staying at my place, Jon"

"Alright Elizabeth, I'll get the transport. Emerald, a word?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"my team's Orthotist has created a prototype brace for Katy, we were wondering if you had any input before we constructed it?"

"well there's no special requirements for the brace itself, except from mounting points where the whole thing can be joined up, and a battery holder, although I've been thinking it might be better to put it in a backpack"

"So if I give you the designs, you'll be able to modify them to make them compatible?"

"yes" Asami had shown Doctor Smith her Orthotist qualification soon after her arrival. she had it and her other qualifications in a folder they had carried from the cave

"you can use the computer at home" Elizabeth called

"thanks, Eliz" Asami smiled

"i wanna go!" Korra's voice echoed from her room

"Let's go and await the transport" Elizabeth smiled at Korra and Kuvira pushed Korra's bed towards the elevator, and then the exit. "you're not all going to fit in the transport you guys, and my car is in the parking lot"

"I'll get it" Asami offered

"No, Emerald, your place is with Katy" Lin replied firmly, "I'll get it" with that, she hurried off, followed by Kya and Laura, the latter of whom was pushing Rebecca.

*

"Let's go" the driver was tapping his foot impatiently

"alright, alright, keep your wig on, jeez" Elizabeth snapped

"No need to get personal" he replied and once Korra was loaded, he drove to Elizabeth's house and helped them unload her, then he was gone

"fuck" Korra grumped, "i spent all those years in a hospital bed, now I'm back in one again!"

"hush, Katy"

"And I'm fed up of that fucking name too!"

Asami pushed the door shut before she spoke again, "no worries, Korra, we're safe now"

"Thank fuck for that" Korra sighed, put her head back on to her bed which was in the sitting position and closed her eyes

"Don't want to see where you'll be staying, Korra?" Elizabeth's voice encouraged her to open her eyes once again. "here" Elizabeth opened the door to a room where all the furniture had been pushed out of the way and piled up to the ceiling. The view was spectacular and Korra grinned at the sight of all the snow, it reminded her of home.

"Kuvira and Kya will take turns in sleeping in this bed, depending who's not on shift, the other will be able to use this TV and so on" she indicated the TV and the laptop, as well as the connected PlayStation Seven, "this screen can be used to shield your side of the room from their area and you'll be sleeping on the window side. You can be moved into a proper bed or you can stay on that one, whichever is more comfortable for you"

"a real bed please, these bloody hospital beds are shit. Where's Asami going to sleep?"

"I'm currently holed up in Laura and Rebecca's room, last night made it apparent they needed someone there"

"and Lin?"

"With Kya in the master bedroom"

"what about you?"

"I'm in my bedroom" Elizabeth smiled, it had been adapted for her after her injury after all

"how big is this house?"

"big enough, Korra" Elizabeth smiled at her friend, "five bedrooms, on this floor, a sixth in the attic, two shower rooms, one of which is an en suite meant for me, one bathroom, a kitchen, an office, two lounges and a dining room, not counting the conservatory out back where there's a half indoor pool, a small gym and a patio where there's a barbecue and a sizable lawn. Asami, there's also an underground workshop where you can do work on your gloves"

"Good to know, your parents won't mind us borrowing the house?"

"No, I'll make sure this place is as it usually is before we leave, just don't set anything on fire, Korra" Elizabeth waited for an answer, "Korra?" she turned around and found Korra was fast asleep. "aww" Elizabeth whispered and wheeled out of the room, gesturing for the others to follow her.

"What about when Lin finds the other mutants?"

"we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Asami, for now, let's just concentrate on getting your girlfriend back on her feet


	19. An Average Day

"wakey wakey, girls!" Asami had rolled out of the third bed she and Lin had dragged in between the two beds already in the girls' room and gone to have a shower before she woke the girls up

"'S going on?" Laura blinked a few times and allowed her eyes to get used to the light

"mama..." Rebecca protested, her vocabulary limiting what she could say

"school, girls" Asami explained, Laura had sat up in bed at those words but Rebecca hadn't really moved. "come on Becs, time to get up"

"mama" she yawned then pushed herself upright reluctantly. Her covers fell away and she had been expecting to shiver as she had done the past few days

"We turned the heating up earlier, Kuvira did it as soon as she relieved Kya at six" Asami smiled at her daughter who was a little less reluctant to move once she has realised it would be warm. "do you want a bath or a shower before you go?" Asami asked kindly, both girls nodded so Asami walked with them to the bath and shower rooms gently supporting Rebecca while she walked. Asami knew Rebecca preferred baths since her injury so she smiled. "holler if you need anything, Rebecca, Laura do you want me to walk to the shower room with you?"

"I'll be alright mama"

"I've got to go and sort something, I'll be back in a little while" she paused, "Rebecca you know what to do if you need help"

*

Asami moved away once she was sure her girls would be alright, she returned to Korra's room and found her sitting slumped in bed. "good morning Asami" Korra whispered brightly so to not disturb Kya

"she's been brilliant" Kuvira moved closer and whispered, following Korra's lead. "she's got herself up, put her leg braces on so she could get to the bathroom, got in, had a wash, got out again, put the braces on, came back here and got dressed, all in the time I was making myself some grub"

"proud of you, Korra." Asami smiled a genuine smile, "how's your back?"

"it's good"

"we were thinking... Perhaps you'd like to come with us to get the kids to school?"

"yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Well then, you'll need this!" Elizabeth wheeled in with a sizable box on her lap

"What's that?"

"open it and find out"

"A new body brace!!" Korra exclaimed, thrilled by the new brace and the future achievements that were now possible. It was a light blue like Korra always wore

"I hope you like the colour"

"love it, thanks 'Sami!"

"Let's get you braced up and ready to go, Korra"

"yes. But I can do it"

"Has Korra's dressings been changed?" Asami finally asked Kuvira

"Yes" Kuvira nodded quickly, "Kya did it last night. Her body is healing quickly with Kya's help"

"I'm done!" Korra walked out of her room wearing her full braces under loose fitting clothes. Her leg braces were visible around the ankles and her whole arm braces were visible below her short sleeves. The rest of her leg braces and her body brace were barely visible under the loose clothes she was wearing although there were a few areas that stuck out

"right then, let's go" Asami gestured out to where Laura and Rebecca sat in brand new clothes, not school uniform, but just casual wear

"mommy?"

"yes, Laura?"

"why are you dressed like that?"

"Your mommy wanted to come and see your new school and to kiss you goodbye, sweetie" Asami explained

"Yay! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Laura bounced up and down excitedly and Rebecca smiled more naturally than she had been before

*

"now, kids" Asami was sitting in the front with Elizabeth, Korra was in the back with the kids and the others were still at home, preparing for a long day, "we decided to start you off in the last year of elementary school since you're already older than most kids in elementary. If you're both ahead you'll be fast tracked into secondary, if not you'll stay where you are. Since you're eleven, Laura, and you're fourteen, Rebecca, you'll probably be the oldest in the school"

"otay mama"

"You're going to spend morning registration with us in a meeting with the principal, after that you'll both go to lessons with Eliz, and we'll stick around to talk to the principal about any adult crap. Eliz won't be leaving your side unless she needs the toilet or something and your inability to speak, although as upsetting as it has been, gives us a ready made excuse to have someone with you in the classroom." Both the girls nodded eagerly, "now, you'll both keep your first names but as always your surname will be Shu. Don't call me and mommy by our real names and do not, ever, _ever_ use your abilities"

"We understand mama"

*

"Welcome! Welcome to Montreal Elementary!" a kind but stern looking man exclaimed with an infectious enthusiasm. "my name is Mr Jones and I'm the principal of this fine school! You must be Rebecca?" Rebecca nodded, a few moments ago she would've been nervous but that was before he started speaking and his enthusiasm spread. "and you must be Laura?" Laura eyed him a little more cautiously but eventually she nodded. "Miss Shu and Miss Shu, pleasure to meet you at last. We spoke a little on the phone regarding your daughters' specific needs and... Elizabeth Shaw... Is that you?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth squeaked, taken aback

"My, it has been a long time since I saw you! We'll have to catch up at some point"

"Yes, we will, but I'm not sure when... The kids will be my first priority"

"You don't remember your second grade teacher then?"

"oh my god?!"

"it's alright" he chuckled, "it was a fair few years ago"

"that it has been" Elizabeth nodded, "but these two are my responsibility while they're in the school"

"What exactly are their needs?"

"Rebecca here is nonverbal after an accident which damaged her brain" Elizabeth explained, Rebecca nodded and smiled nervously

"and Laura has issues with trauma" Asami explained. Laura nodded but looked down sadly

"well, Miss Shu and Miss Shu?"

"yes?"

"I'm happy to enrol your daughters in to the school, Miss Shaw will you take them to the classroom after they've said goodbye to their mothers?"

"sure"

"Room twenty one is the one you want"

"Alright" Elizabeth nodded and wheeled Rebecca out while taking Laura's hand after they both kissed their parents goodbye.

"I love you mommy. I love you mama" Laura waved at them as they left the room

"mommy" Rebecca whispered, "mama" Rebecca waved happily the whole while

*

"She's so happy" Mr Jones commented, "Rebecca" he elaborated

"Yes, she is" Asami smiled. "she has been ever since we found her and her sister"

"They're not your children?"

"no, me and Katy found them after an incident"

"What exactly happened?"

"we don't know the entire story, Katy and I never got the whole story out of the children before Rebecca was hurt or Laura got caught up in her flashbacks that get triggered by talking about it"

"what do you know?"

"Laura's father was mercilessly murdered in front of Rebecca and Laura" Korra explained. "bringing it up causes Laura to have intense flashbacks though and that's not something that would be good in a leaning environment, or any environment at all where even one person didn't have the necessary training to deal with it"

"I've dealt with children with dyslexia, mild mental disorders and a myriad of physical disabilities, but someone with trauma? No"

"Screaming" Asami explained quickly, "a tonne of screaming and yelling, possibly some punching and a lot more screaming"

"really?" Mr Jones' eyebrow rose

"Really. You don't wanna know really. Eliz knows how to ground her but she must be allowed to do so"

"Alright, I'll pass that on to the teacher"

"Thank you" Korra smiled and nodded

"Come on Katy, let's go" Asami grabbed her hand

"And what happened to you, Miss Shu?"

"Me? Oh nothing to worry about, just some muscular atrophy" Korra tried to smile but it came out more like a wince

"are you alright, Katy?"

"Yes. My back hurts though"

"Come on we'd better get home then"

"Alright, Emerald" Korra nodded, "but are the girls gonna be alright?"

"Rebecca and Laura will be fine"

*

"Korra! Asami! You're back at last!"

"Yeah, sorry mom. Took us a while to sort things out with the principal"

"ah fair enough, I'm on my way out to start my search for the rest of the children"

"bye mom" Asami hugged her goodbye while Korra waved while she was helped back to her room by Kuvira and Kya

"'m alright, Kya"

"Korra... We need to get you to the bed"

"A... Alright" Korra grumped, wishing she could say a proper goodbye to Lin

Kya took Korra to her bed and she sighed when she was helped on to the bed by Kya. "there you go, Korra"

"Thank you, mama"

"let's get you on your side so I can check your wounds?"

"Alright, mama" Korra unlatched her braces, led down and was helped on to her side by Kya, Kuvira who had just joined them smiled, she moved forward at the same time as Kya and they both quickly removed Korra's dressings

"Korra..."

"what, mama?" Korra asked fearfully

"this has nearly healed!"

"So?"

"So, do you want to begin to use the pool?"

"swimming?!" Korra's eyes widened and she couldn't help the lopsided grin that had begun to appear on her face

"yes, Korra"

"Please!"

*

*

Lin was just leaving a stop she had made in the car she had bought second hand, she had intended to fill it up with fuel and leave but then she saw the maps so she brought those as well. She pulled over outside the place where she has stopped and then pulled out a tape recorder Kuvira had handed her surreptitiously. She took it out, plugged it in to one ear, stuck the screen precariously on top of the dashboard and set about studying the maps while her eyes flicked to the screen occasionally

* Seventeen years ago *

"are you sure?"

"yes, Mr President"

"well alright then, it's your money so if you think security needs improving then who am I to argue with you, Mr Sato?" Hiroshi Sato and Raiko were sitting in a finely adorned room. Raiko was turning to look at the doors every few minutes, waiting for someone

"Ah... Finally, Varrick and Tenzin join us!" Raiko's voice sounded annoyed. There had been a noise out of the camera's field of vision, a door opening or perhaps a door bouncing off a wall

"Mr President! Pleasure to see you again!"

"Varrick" there was a bite to Raiko's tone

"i told Noatak and Tarrlok and Unalaq to hurry up, Mr President, but you know those scientist types"

"it's not your fault, master Tenzin"

"Sorry we're late" a new voice called minutes later

"Noatak, Tarrlok, and Unalaq" Raiko paused while the three men took their seats, "glad you can join us, at last"

"sorry" one of them muttered

"right, Mr President, your poll figures look good" Tenzin began the meeting, "and I've recently got legislation through that makes you the President indefinitely, all elections can either be acted on or dismissed by a new board, which myself, Varrick, Mr Sato and Unalaq serve on"

"nobody suspects a thing?" Raiko questioned

"nope, the populace is easily manipulated, save a few such as Senna and Tonraq"

"who are no longer a concern" Raiko snapped, "they were involved in an incredible accident with lava earlier this morning"

"What happened?" Tarrlok asked, surprised

"Their house sunk, it's so sad" Raiko paused and pretended to wipe his eyes

"now they're out the way" the man called Unalaq growled, "whoever it is trying to take A-Naught-Two will give up, since they're not being paid."

There was a knock on the door, "who is it?!" Raiko snapped

"Zhu Li" a female voice called

Raiko turned to Varrick and narrowed his eyes, "she knows not to disturb us unless absolutely necessary"

"very well. Enter!"

The usually calm and stoic Zhu Li ran in in a bit of a panic. "sir! Sir! She's gone!"

"who's gone?" Varrick looked confused

"A-Naught-Two"

"What?!"

"She's gone!"

"Zhu Li, do the thing!"

"Well this meeting is in recess" Raiko was so angry he was barely in control. "leave. Find out what the fuck happened and more importantly, how. Then report back here in three hours!"

There was muffled sounds of people leaving and once he was alone, Raiko yelled "fuck!!" before he too hurried off

*

*

"ah you're all on time, for once"

"Mr President" Unalaq began, "Zhu Li was right. A-Naught-Two was taken sometime over the weekend

"Better security would've solved this issue" Sato spat

"never mind that now, Tenzin, could you get your people to search the city?"

"Of course, but they've never left the city limits before"

"that doesn't matter, anyone who leaves will be dead within twelve hours anyway. It's the winter on the South Pole"

"what's the damage?"

"Without A-Naught-Two, it's going to be a real struggle to get the project off the ground again" Varrick muttered, his head bowed in shame

"why?"

"our enemy destroyed the lab" Tarrlok yelped but he yelped even more loudly when Unalaq kicked him under the table

"I'm the proper representative here, quiet, unless you're spoken to"

"How much have we lost?"

"About two billion yuans"

"That's about a billion dollars?!"

"yes. The adimantium alone cost a small fortune"

"Along with everything else"

"how did this happen?!"

"we are unsure, sir"

"What's the status of the A programme?"

"Dead in its tracks, unless we can retrieve A-Naught-Two" Unalaq sighed, "the person who took her destroyed everything we had, preliminary DNA analysis, blood samples and all electronic records"

"suspects?"

"we haven't a clue"

"how did they even find the lab, as far as I'm aware, none of the citizens of Republic City know about any of the equipment in the lab, not to mention how to work the security?"

"I'm afraid to say we don't have any idea"

"Get me the Chief of Police"

"sir, she's off on a high priority case right now, I spoke to her second in command already"

"Well get Lin Beifong back here right now!"

"Yes, Mr President"

* present day *

Lin sighed a massive sigh of relief, thankful that she had already cleared out by the time that these sick men were having this meeting, at this time she would've been floating aimlessly in the middle of the ocean with the aim of getting away from the city. She wouldn't have wanted to be around to help these sickos even if she had been innocent of rescuing Korra. She growled angrily, "that kid has a name you sick twisted evil fucks" she growled, her name is KORRA, not A-Naught-Two!" she flicked her wrist in anger and a nearby metal container crumpled into a jagged mess of twisted metal. She looked at the clock on the dashboard and realised that she had been sat there listening for half an hour without moving her pen, she quickly marked where she knew the children to have been for definite which was back before Toronto and tried to decide where exactly they were headed. Since they had been in Montreal for a while she suspected that they wouldn't be around Toronto any more, they'd likely be further in their quest to get wherever they were going, but without any further leads, Lin wasn't sure what to do so she switched the radio on

"This is CBC Radio One! And with us is Brandon for the news at ten!"

"thank you Jane" a male voice echoed out of the radio, "after the attack outside Toronto's main emergency room, there still appears to be no leads as to who was involved, even the doctor who arrived first on the scene saw nothing. Doctor Farr said in a statement that he walked out for a cigarette after treating one of his younger patients and discharging them when he came across what looked to be a war zone. Police declared that this had some similarities to an incident closer to the border with the United States but refused to elaborate on that due to the potential for the information to be upsetting. This is the second of what is now known to be three violent outbreaks, the third being just outside the town of Cornwall just yesterday"

"Oh my spirits!" Lin yelled, started the car and began to drive towards the town that had been mentioned by the newsreader

"at this time it is unclear as to what exactly happened, but it would seem that a small group of children were attacked while they slept outside the town's outer limits..."

"fucking Transigen scum!!"

"these people are believed to be a part of some kind of gang..."

"no, you civilian halfwit!"

"no doubt dangerous"

"Well, duh" Lin switched the radio off, too irritated by the person presenting the news to continue listening. "i have a lead, that's all I need, and I'm only about an hour away to boot!"

*

*

"Come on Korra, you can't just float around in that water all day"

"and why the hell not?"

Kuvira sighed, "Korra... We need to start your rehabilitation therapies"

"Fine" Korra crossed her arms grumpily

There was a burst of static across the room, "Turtle Fuck to Base Camp, Turtle Fuck to Base Camp"

"Wish she'd stop calling herself that, her call sign is Turtle DUCK"

"maybe she's sending a message, Kya" Korra laughed

Kya went bright red but nodded, "I'll get it. Turtle _Duck_ this is Base Camp"

"have a lead on them, proceeding to a town called Cornwall"

"Roger that, Turtle Duck"

"Turtle Fuck out"

Kya shook her head, "was that mom?" Asami had walked in

"yes, she's got a lead on the mutant children she's heading to a place called Cornwall"

"Heard there was another attack in that area" Asami commented dryly

"Oh I hope those kids are alright" Kuvira called from the pool

"Korra..." Asami sat down by the pool, "if you work on your hydrotherapy now for a while, I'll join you after the kids are in bed, we can have fun then"

"Tempting" was all Korra replied

"Korra, please"

"alright sweetie"

*

*

"and does anyone here know what twelve times twelve is?" Rebecca's hand shot up again, as did Laura's, amongst a smattering of other hands. "yes, Laura?"

"one hundred and forty four"

"very good" Emma Martyn, or Mrs Martyn as she was known to the children in her class was very impressed by Rebecca and Laura's knowledge, they had obviously had some schooling and were very bright children. Before she could continue, a bell rung, "oh that's break time!" all the children except Laura, Rebecca and another two ran out of the classroom. The two children that were left cautiously approached the new girls

"Hi my name is Benedict" the boy said kindly

"and my name is Anne"

"you're Rebecca and Laura?" Benedict inquired and the girls nodded

"Laura Shu" Laura smiled, "my sister Rebecca is the quiet one"

"kids why don't you go out to play?"

"Come on!" Benedict grabbed Rebecca's wheelchair handles and began pushing her towards the door, "we'll show you around!"

"Th... Th" Rebecca stuttered

Laura saw this and leapt in the air, the teacher watching closely from a distance. "th-anks" Laura pronounced the word slowly

"th-a"

"Th-a-nks" Laura nodded encouragingly

"Th-a-nks" Rebecca repeated. Laura let out a whoop of pure happiness and beamed at her best friend, her arms wrapping around her tightly

"well done, Rebecca! Wait til mommy and mama hear!"

"mommy and mama?"

"Yes, Anne, we have two mommies"

"you're so lucky. I have a mommy and a daddy" Benedict whispered

"A mommy and daddy are just as good. I never really knew mine til..." Laura went quiet

*

"Laura!" Elizabeth rushed over and placed her hands on the girls shoulders, "you're safe and nobody will hurt you so long as I'm around"

It took a few minutes but Laura nodded and pointed out the door, Anne and Benedict wasted no time in running out with Laura and Rebecca. "Sheesh their mothers weren't kidding were they?"

"Nope. Laura and Rebecca both have a troubled past"

"Well you'd better get after them Miss Shaw, I'll go speak to the principal about them"

"Alrighty" Elizabeth turned to wheel through the door, she stopped and turned back, "call me Eliz"

"otay, Eliz"

*

*

Lin had been driving for over an hour when she came across the small town of Cornwall. "what a mess" she commented to herself. She saw several buildings were damaged and there were chalk marks all over the place, the entire area was cordoned off and there were a sizable number of bloodstains. Lin, with relief, noticed that there were no smaller chalk marks and all the dead or wounded seemed to be adults. She got out of her car and walked in to a nearby tea shop, she was thirsty but she was also fishing for clues. "good morning"

"Morning" the woman behind the counter replied, Lin pulled out a bar stool and sat nearby. "what can I get you?"

"A pot of tea please"

"coming right up" she looked nervously out of the window

"What happened out there?"

"i have no idea... Gang fight maybe?"

Lin sat back while her tea was made, she then thanked the woman, poured her tea and sat with her chin on her hand. "bit of a mess"

"That it is. Apparently a fight broke out between a group of adults and a small group of children" another customer added and Lin went white. "are you otay?"

"yeah, fine, just fine" Lin lied, "just worried about children being involved in that sort of violence" _another lie_

"Aren't we all?" the woman moved away to continue working and the other customer returned to her coffee. Lin, on the other hand tried to sit calmly but remained uptight about what had happened. Even though she enjoyed the tea, all she really wanted to do was get back on the radio and call back to Kya and the others to inform them that the children may well have been involved

*

"thank you" Lin moved back to her car after she had finished her tea, "Turtle Fuck to Base Camp, Turtle Fuck to Base Camp"

"Base Camp, recieving you five by five, TurtleDuck"

"It seems that it was what we thought here, I'm going to have a drive around and see if I can find them"

"roger that, Turtle Duck"

*

*

"She's got a lead!" Kya ran through to Asami who had paperwork all over the dining room table"

"great!"

"There was an incident in a town called Cornwall"

"Incident?"

"People died, Asami"

"shit"

"Well I'd better get back to Korra"

"Alright, Kya"

Kya returned to Korra and while Kuvira was getting Korra to move this way and that, Kya used her healing abilities to try to help Korra while she was on the move

*

"Anything?" Asami had given up on the paperwork a few hours later and had joined them by the pool

"Nope, nothing new, it's a big country out there"

"yeah..."

"how are you doing with the designs?"

"nearly all sorted, I've sorted the designs into categories. Stuff to help Korra walk and move, stuff to protect a location, stuff for self defence and offensive weapons"

"Explain why we need weapons?" Kuvira asked

"Because I feel it would be better if we weren't totally dependent on bending"

"Oh?"

"I've developed a design for a wrist mounted gun and a wrist mounted knife launcher, as well as new cable thingies for Lin and some new water containers for you, Kya" Asami smiled breathlessly, "I've also finalised the designs for my glove, we're going to have to buy in a fair amount to build all this, especially enough for everyone, but it should be doable with my father's funds"

"Great work sweetie, now, _join me_ " Korra purred. Asami realised it was not a request, rather a demand

"We'll be nearby, just yell if the radio buzzes or you need help" Kya grabbed Kuvira's elbow and dragged her out of the room while Asami leapt into the pool leaving nothing other than a small pile of clothes by the poolside

*

*

"SHIT!" Lin was getting frustrated, it was gone two in the afternoon and she knew she had to be back at the house by four for the children's return and she hadn't even eaten. She had thoroughly scoured the area around the south of Cornwall but had come up blank, she hadn't even found so much as a mark in the ground to indicate the children had passed that way. Realising that pushing on was stupid she returned to the town, grabbed herself some sandwiches and sat back in her car, she pulled the screen and player out again

Twelve years ago *

"Mr President"

"Yes, Mr Sato?"

"My daughter has gone missing"

"I am sorry to hear that"

"can you help find her?"

"She was a friend of our missing lab experiment was she not?"

"Yes, sir"

"then that's where she's gone"

"She abandoned her home, her family to be with that test tube baby?"

"if you think about it, it makes perfect sense"

"Master Tenzin! I didn't know you were here?"

"I was just providing an update on our soldiers"

"Really? How is it going?"

"perfectly. We have a hundred units in suspended animation, ready to be deployed"

"excellent"

"asking price?"

"ten million dollars a piece, Mr President"

"there was one other matter, Mr President"

"Yes, Mr Sato?"

"One of my offshore accounts has gone blank, sir"

"What?!"

"one of my offshore bank accounts has been wiped out"

"H... How much?

"five hundred million dollars, sir"

"just under a billion yuans... And it just vanished?"

"yes, sir"

"Your daughter has it"

"Varrick" Sato's eyes narrowed

"it's the only obvious explanation" Varrick snapped, frustrated

"excuse me if I take the prerogative on this one, Mr Sato"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sending the Red Lotus after her. Hopefully she'll lead us to our missing property"

"You can't..."

"I can, your daughter is a traitor" Raiko's voice was clipped and authoritative

present day *

Lin gulped. The red Lotus were four violent mercenaries who excelled at their bending arts. This was what Kya had meant, they were coming and they wouldn't stop until either they were dead or Korra was recaptured. "FUCK!!!" Lin yelled, "I've got to get back home, now!" Lin started the engine and drove back towards Montreal as fast as she could.


	20. The Search: Part I

Pop. Pop. BOOM! Lin was startled by the sudden loud bang that echoed around the valley she was driving down. "what the flameo?!" Lin looked around for the source but she spotted nothing. Pop. Pop. BOOM! Lin was better prepared for the loud bang this time but she still had no idea what the source was and she still jumped about a foot in the air, she would've jumped higher but the car roof got in the way. "shit" Lin growled, holding her head with one hand and trying to correct the sizable swerve that she found herself in because of the distracting explosions with the other hand. "what the hell was that?" Lin growled, again looking around for signs of danger. Pop. Pop. BOOM! She didn't jump out of her skin this time but she narrowed her eyes in discomfort from the noise. "Turtle Fuck to Base Camp, do you copy?"

"copy you five by six, Turtle Duck. You're yelling"

"what?"

"you're yelling"

"I'm telling, what the hell you on about, Kya?"

"No, you're yelling, ye-ll-ing!"

"oh, yelling!" Lin was still talking loudly, "well that aside, I've just heard three very unusual explosions, or rather nine" pop. Pop. BOOM!

"oww!" Kya cried, "the fuck you playing at, Turtle Dick, you're going to burst my eardrums. My eyes are already bleeding from the loud... Explosion?"

"explosion?!" Kuvira yelled from the other room, "tell Turtle Duck to get out of there!"

"Turtle Dick, did you get that? Get out of there!"

"Base Camp..."

"Turtle Duck?"

"I'll be back in a second"

"No! Lin! What the fuck are you playing at?" Pop. Pop. BOOM!

*

*

The radio went silent, though yelling and screaming could be heard through the radio. "what's going on?" Korra rushed into the room still wearing nothing other than her swimwear and her leg braces, Asami close behind

"I have no idea..." Kya shook her head. Suddenly the sound of sirens punctuated the air. "shit" Kya growled, "you think Eliz would mind us nabbing her car?"

"Turtle Duck, come in. Please respond. Do you copy, Turtle Duck?"

"shit" Asami pulled her glove out, "we'll get changed!" Asami half dragged Korra from the room

Pop. Pop. BOOM!

*

*

"fuck" Lin growled, she had the police on one side and a moat of molten rock that seemingly had come from nowhere on the other side. _Things can't get much worse.._.Lin thought, then a woman with no arms swung over the lava and landed on her ledge, her arms were made of water. "back off!" Lin yelled, her ears still ringing from the explosions

"We aren't after you, random Canadian!" the water armed lady declared. "our boss figures muties stick together so if we catch these mutie kids, the people we really want will come and try to get them to safety"

Lin found herself thinking faster than she had ever thought before. She found herself pulling on the shock glove Asami had insisted on leaving in the car and starting towards the water arm lady. "whoever you're after, you leave these kids out of it, understand?"

"My name is Ming-Hua" water arm lady cackled "and I'm sure P'Li, the woman who's creating the explosions, will have injured enough of the children by now to entice in the other... AAAHHH!!" Ming-Hua screamed, the electricity from the shock glove passed through her body and rendered her semi-conscious.

"I'm not abandoning those kids" Lin resolved. She crept towards the lava moat which had trapped between four and seven children, all of whom Lin vaguely recognised from the cave they had been in but she wasn't able to recall their names. The only ones she could have named with any certainty were not present. "fuck... They're going to kill them all!" one of them, a boy, was already lying worryingly still and two girls were on their sides groaning but unable to get up. Several shards of rock flew towards the children and those still standing managed to drop in time. "fuck!" Lin had realised she was on the wrong side of the lava moat to even affect an attack on whoever was lobbing the rocks at the children. She paused, a brainwave hitting her while there were screams from behind her after another series of pops and a bang. _That P'Li woman is targeting the police!_ Lin tried to remember what Asami had tried to teach her. Lin pressed her index and middle fingers into the centre of the glove after she had used seismic sense to figure out where her opponent was standing, the taser launcher deployed and shot the two barbed needles at the unseen enemy who grunted and fell to the floor with a crunch. "two down, one to go" Lin mouthed to herself. Hearing more pops and bangs, Lin was reassured that whoever it was launching the explosions was still busy fending off the police and since the lava moat had cooled somewhat, she ran forward and towards the children. "kids" she whispered, counting six of them. At least one of boys had been injured, it looked as if the boys had attempted to protect the girls from the attacks and therefore took the brunt of the attack. The two girls who were wounded rolled over on to their backs at Lin's approach.

"Lin?" one of them groaned through their obvious shock

"Yes, it's me..."

"Delilah"

"Yes, it's me, Delilah" Lin smiled reassuringly while Delilah picked herself up off the ground, it turned out she'd only been knocked unconscious

"Jonah!" another one of the children yelled, "Jonah! No!" she moved away and sat down heavily. Lin knelt in front of her, and smiled at her

"Did he try to protect you?" Lin asked

"he tried to protect all of us, but he couldn't control the explosions" the girl replied

"Charlotte" Delilah muttered under her breath

"Oh Charlotte" Lin sighed, she reached out for Charlotte's hand and she placed her small hand in Lin's larger one. "kids, we've gotta get out of here" Lin spoke softly so to not draw attention to their position

"what about Jonah? Bobby?" another girl had moved forward and spoke quietly, she had been the only other one other than Delilah and Charlotte that had got through it without being hurt. "Mira?"

"Tamara" Delilah whispered again, telling Lin the child's name

"so you're Delilah?" Lin inquired and she nodded, "you're Charlotte and you're Tamara?" Lin looked back at Delilah for confirmation which she provided, "and the boys are Bobby and Jonah?"

Delilah nodded again, "this is Mira" she indicated the injured girl "and he's Jonah" she explained. Lin leaned in and checked his pulse but she was forced to shake her head

"Can't feel his pulse" Lin then turned him over and quickly covered Delilah's eyes, the sight wasn't pleasant. "he must've been caught by a stray one of those explosion things" Lin explained

"no..."

"come on kids we've gotta get out of here"

"Wait" Charlotte flexed her fingers and manipulated the plant life so it covered Jonah's battered body. Lin went wide eyed with shock

"thank you" Delilah whispered. Tamara stepped forward and scooped Mira into her arms without hesitation or difficulty while Lin picked Bobby up. She led them back to her car and helped them all in, luckily the car was a seven seater.

Lin had just moved off when she saw movement in the bushes, Ming-Hua's voice called out "Ghazan!"

*

"shit!" Lin exclaimed, she hadn't expected to get caught up in a firefight

"Turtle Duck! Please respond! Come on where the fuck are you?" Kuvira's voice echoed out of the radio and all the conscious children jumped in shock, evidently terrified

"it's alright, everyone, it's just a radio" Lin explained, "Turtle Duck receiving you"

"Oh! Turtle Duck thank fuck for that! Where the hell have you been?!"

"Rescuing some kids"

"me and the others are on their way, they left the house about twenty minutes ago"

"Right, I'm in a valley, no idea what it's called"

"I've got ya, don't worry I know where you are there's only one valley in the direction you set off on, I'll relay that to the others"

"Roger that" Lin pulled over and got out, she opened the back door to check on each of the children and she decided that it wasn't safe for them to be sitting so she dropped the rearmost seats in the back of her old land rover, then did the same to the middle row and put the children in the back so they were lying down. Several of them were still unconscious. Lin moved over to them and shook then gently. "Bobby. Mira" Lin tried to wake them but they wouldn't wake up. To her horror she saw that the other three she had got out alive also had their eyes closed but she quickly calmed when she realised they were merely sleeping.

*

"mom!" Asami shrieked and ran up to the older woman, wrapping her arms around her tightly. Asami was closely followed by Korra who was standing tall and proud in her braces

"I'm alright, girls"

"woah..." Kya walked straight past Lin and up to the back of the vehicle. She opened the rear and clambered up so she could give the children a once over. "they're all fine, mainly bumps and bruises, there's a broken bone or two and a mild concussion but nothing we can't handle ourselves"

"wasn't looking forward to bothering that poor Smith bloke with yet another five casualties" Lin remarked

"What happened?"

"they were being attacked, Korra" Lin sighed, "these three people had cornered them and were preparing to capture them in an effort to trap some other mutants"

"you mean... Us?" Kya inquired. Lin looked up in shock, "the only person known to be capable of using that explosion, or Combustion to give it its correct name, technique is associated with the Red Lotus" she looked around, "Kuvira told me what she knew of them last night"

"shit... We've gotta get out of here"

"patrol one oh seven, do you copy?" a voice echoed out of a nearby bush. Lin signalled Kuvira who had just arrived in her own car, they both moved cautiously over to the car and peeked through the windows. "one oh seven, we are getting reports of explosions and crashes as well as screaming coming from five miles south of your position, do you copy?"

"five miles south... That's where the children were" Lin added

"Do you copy, it is a strong likelihood that mutants were involved"

"Shit. That means Transigen are going to be all over this valley soon"

"hey, mom! This kid is awake!"

"Delilah!" Lin ran over and helped her sit up, are you alright?!" she nodded. Lin, reassured, then questioned her, "where are the other children? Mako? Bolin? Rictor?"

"They are looking for Rebecca"

"retracing their steps?"

"Si"

"well, Asami, Korra and Kuvira can take you lot back to the house"

"Lin... There were a fair number of children" Kuvira spoke, her tone concerned, "let me come with you"

"what about Korra?"

"Asami knows all the stuff she needs to do, besides, she'll have Eliz's help and the house is about the safest place at the moment"

"fine" Lin grumbled. "Kuvira will come with us, Asami, Korra, you take those kids home then go get Eliz and the kids, if you hurry you'll only be an hour late"

"alright. I'll drive" Asami insisted, Kuvira walked the short distance to her car and hopped in. "stay in touch" Asami ordered once the mutant children had been loaded into Elizabeth's ancient Volvo

"of course" Lin and Kya jumped back in to their car and drove off with Kuvira close behind. Asami drove Elizabeth's car back home, dropped off Korra and the children then set off again for Laura and Rebecca's school

*

*

"Eliz, I'm worried... Mom and mama are already an hour late"

"hush, Laura, they will be alright"

"I'm still worried"

"I know"

There was the sound of a horn. "that must be them!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Laura ran out of the building and in to Asami's waiting arms.

"mama!" Laura cried

"oh Emerald!" Elizabeth moved over and gave her a once over, "you're really muddy"

"Long story, once we're safely in the car I'll tell you"

Elizabeth helped Rebecca get in, noticing that the back of her car was all muddy too, she clambered in herself and shut the door, Asami moved off, both girls already sound asleep. "seems like you've had quite the interesting day"

"we kinda did..."

"how did Lin's search go?" Elizabeth turned to look at her friend

"Eliz... She found some of them"

"Really?" Elizabeth's eyes glinted but then she sobered up "but...?"

"but the Red Lotus were already on to them, they attacked and cornered six of the children, according to Lin there was a woman who could create explosions, a man who could control lava and a woman with water arms"

"the Red Lotus?"

"Yup. And they were trying to injure the kids when Lin found them. "Lin intervened, she zapped water arm lady, Ming-Hua and did the same to lava man, Ghazan, but explosion lady was being helpful, she kept the police at bay..."

"I can sense another but coming"

"unfortunately. I believe that the children's enemy may have heard the all points bulletin about the suspected mutants"

"Transigen?" Asami nodded, what about these Red Lotus yahoos?"

"Incapacitated, but they don't know that Lin is Lin luckily so they were just after the kids as leverage"

"Are the kids alright?"

"Yes, or at least five of them are..."

"The sixth..."

"didn't make it"

Elizabeth sat back and looked over her shoulder at the two girls, "they have had such a great day today. Rebecca learnt how to say another three or four words, they excelled at schoolwork and made lots of friends" she sighed, "i don't want those girls to face the horrific reality of their situation _every_ day, Asami"

"I'm sorry"

"Where are the children?"

"At home, Kor is watching over them and healing those that need it"

"Lin? Kya? Kuvira?"

"Following a lead"

"oh"

"We're almost there, I bet these two are nearly as starved as those five"

"Uh huh" Elizabeth tried to wipe her tear away without Asami noticing but she noticed anyway

"on Eliz..." I'd say someone like you is wasted in a university, you'd do well in a school"

"thank you, Asami"

*

Asami gently turned up Elizabeth's drive and reached the end of the driveway, she pulled up, stopped the engine and carried Rebecca into the house, Laura barely stirred when she was picked up by Elizabeth and rested in her lap while she wheeled in to the house. Immediately the pair heard excited voices, it seemed Korra had managed to get all the children to have a shower to wash the grime off their bodies and their voices were echoing from the swimming pool area where Asami guessed that Korra had taken them all so they wouldn't be crowded in one room. Elizabeth and Asami gently placed Laura and Rebecca on the closest couches and went through to the pool area. They were astounded to see all the children, including the one with the broken bones and concussion, swimming in the pool, all of them having a great time while Korra just watched them closely, occasionally consenting to splash one or two, or be used an object to jump off of. "Asami!" Korra exclaimed

"Hey, babe" Asami walked through the door, all the children looked up at her in fear although some seemed to recognise her. Asami crossed the room and kissed Korra's nose. "be right back" she whispered. Asami returned minutes later in her swimwear and leapt into the pool to join everyone else

"Hola" Elizabeth whispered when the children cautiously watched her approach them in her wheelchair

"Mommy? Mama? Aunt Eliz? Gran-Gran? Nana?" Laura's voice called from where she had been left

"we're in the pool, Laura!" Asami called

"Mama?" Laura shot through the door like a missile, "mama!" she crowed and jumped into her mother's arms only then catching sight of the others. Laura stared for a full minute before finding her voice again, "Bobby, Delilah and Charlotte? Mira? Tamara?" she whispered disbelievingly. She rubbed her eyes then repeated the names only to be overwhelmed by five voices calling her name as one. "what...?" Laura turned to Asami who stepped forward and smiled kindly, Elizabeth came back through the door with Rebecca who was sat on her lap and still quite groggy from her interrupted nap

"Lin found them, Laura" Asami soothed,"they're safe"

"Bo...? De...? C...? Mi...? Tam...? Laura...? Mommy? Mama? El-iz?" Rebecca looked around, "Gran-Gran? Nana?"

"Yes, those five are here" Asami explained calmly while the other children looked on in confusion. Admittedly, the last time they had seen Rebecca, she didn't use words much, but she was definitely able to talk. Asami turned to the other children, "Rebecca had an accident" she explained, "she hurt herself and lost the ability to speak"

"mommy?" Delilah echoed

"mama?" Mira whispered

"Eliz?" Bobby looked around and Elizabeth waved

"I'm Laura and Rebecca's mommy" Korra had joined them and was standing as steady as she could, even in the pool she struggled without her braces

"And I'm their mama" Asami added, "this here is aunt Eliz, the woman who saved you, Lin, is their Gran-Gran and our" Asami indicated herself and Korra "mommy, Kya, the woman who arrived in the cave shortly after you, the one who can control water, she's Laura and Rebecca's Nana, and our mama"

"Bo...? De...? C...? Mi...? Tam...?

"you want to learn their names sweetie?" Korra took Rebecca in her arms and lowered her into the pool fully clothed

"Kor, she ought to change into her swimwear" Asami chided

"who cares" Korra pouted. "lucky you got enough of everything..." she added

"see? There's nothing wrong with being prepared" Asami remarked snidely, referring to the twenty or so sleeping bags, the pile of clothes and all the other bits and pieces she'd bought on anticipation of more of the mutant children being found and brought back to their home

"i guess you were right"

Laura rushed out and leapt into the swimming pool, she sunk to the bottom before resurfacing. "i hate it when she does that" Asami rolled her eyes but embraced Laura tightly. Korra had jumped out of the pool, clicked her braces into position again and gone to take Rebecca to her room so she could change into her swimwear. Korra came back moments later and sat near the door, waiting for Rebecca's call. Soon enough it came, she hurried off and came back with Rebecca and they leapt into the water once Korra had removed her braces.

"Pizza tonight, everyone?" Elizabeth asked, she didn't feel like cooking for eleven people

"uh huh"

"Bo-bb-y" Korra was busy teaching Rebecca how to pronounce the other children's names, "Del-il-ah, Ch-ar-lott-e, Mi-ra" Korra knew her daughter was absorbing everything she said even though she remained still and quiet, "Tam-ara" Korra's eyes filled with love and adoration when she encouraged Rebecca to repeat them

"Bo-bb-y" Rebecca repeated, "Del-il-ah, Ch-ar-l, Mi-ra, Tam-ara" Rebecca was getting faster at picking words up, "Bobb-y,Delilah, Ch-ar-l, Mira, Tamara." Korra nodded again encouragingly, "Bobby, Delilah, Ch-ar-l, Mira, Tamara"

"it's otay" Korra breathed when Rebecca was unable to get past half the third syllable of Charlotte, "Ch-ar-lott-e" she repeated herself

"Ch-ar-lott-e" Rebecca clenched her fists in her achievement, then was caught by surprise by Laura giving her a massive hug

"try again" Laura encouraged her adoptive sister

"Char-lott-e, Char-lotte, Charlotte" all the children burst into applause at Rebecca's achievement, she smiled wearily in her mother's arms then drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the day's activities and comforted by the warm water that enveloped her like a cocoon, even without Korra's waterbending. It was by unspoken agreement after Elizabeth's comment that they wouldn't bring up the death of Jonah unless one of the children brought it up first, they did, after all, deserve to feel safe and happy

*

*

"hey, Lin, you need to rest"

"Kya... We've got to get to the kids, not only are the Transigen scum after them, but the Red Lotus are as well. One has already died."

"I know you're worried about them, but they split up into three groups to reduce the chance of them all being caught. The majority of the boys went back with Rictor but a few went on with the girls."

"run through the numbers again"

"right, hang on then" Kya picked up the radio "turtle duck to great Uniter?"

"Receiving you, I am right behind you yanno?"

"We're going to run through the numbers"

"right, I'm all ears"

"ready, sweetie?"

"go!"

"eighteen children, twenty if you include our grandkids, eight of whom are accounted for. Seven safe and one dead" Kya didn't allow any emotion into her voice, she couldn't. "that means one boy and six girls are safe at base camp but another four girls remain at large, probably with another boy or two escorting them. R, M and B have led the rest, likely another three or four boys, back to try to find Rebecca. Their final goal seems to be Montreal as well" Kya and the others agreed to only use the first letter of the three leaders' names, at least while they were on the radio

"Imagine the odds..." Kya muttered

"i know... I keep trying to, but something doesn't add up" Lin muttered

"Come on Lin, even you have to rest, if you want I'll continue driving" Kya offered.

"No, I'm fine, Kya"

"Lin!" Kya looked at Lin sternly and she finally relented

"alright! You win, we'll stop in a moment and we can swap drivers"

"Turtle Duck to Great Uniter"

"Great Uniter here"

"you good to keep going?"

"sure. I'm a little hungry but I'll be fine for another few hours... Christ, is that the time?"

"It's eight in the evening, yes"

"the kids are probably just having food" Kuvira remarked

"Let's find the rest of the girls, we can't get through to R or the others so let's just focus on rescuing those close by before we move further afield."

"Shit" Lin had realised something, "it's our fault they went back for Rebecca, we picked her up"

"Lin," Kya was stern again, "had we not found Rebecca, she would still have been hit by a dart, the only difference is she would probably be dead now instead of alive"

"true" Lin growled, "Rictor is too young to be leading these kids"

"He hasn't done too badly"

"abandoning Rebecca?"

"you know it wasn't like that, Lin. They were all being chased"

"Great Uniter to Turtle Duck"

"Go ahead"

"we are approaching a Y junction, can I suggest you take one and I take the other? According to the map they meet back up at the other ends of this valley"

"so sick of this damn valley"

"I know, Lin"

"We've been driving down it for hours!"

"I know... I've been awake the entire time"

Kya drove their land rover down the left hand fork while Kuvira drove her Audi down the right.

*

*

"Pizza!" Elizabeth wheeled in with a stack of pizza boxes, all very large and all very hot, the children tucked in without even bothering with plates. Of the children, only Rebecca and Laura used plates, the rest used the boxes as plates.

"Mmmm" Mira sighed contently, Laura put her arm around her fellow mutant and smiled encouragingly

"comer, es bueno" Laura encouraged the rest of the children. She had figured they probably hadn't eaten for days and was more than a little worried about them

The rest of the meal passed in silence, the only noises were chewing, the occasional burp and the inevitable giggling that arose from the burps. "do you want to see where you'll be sleeping?" Asami asked the children once they had finished as much pizza as they could handle. There was a little left over for the adults but considering they had got seven of the largest pizzas they could, not as much as they had expected

"¿Quieres ver dónde duermes?" Laura translated for Asami and the children looked up hopefully

"there aren't enough bedrooms to cater for all of you" Elizabeth explained, "but we've got a bedroom in the attic that we'll hopefully be able to squeeze your all into"

"no hay suficientes habitaciones para todos, pero tenemos un dormitorio en el ático con el que esperamos poder exprimirlos a todos" Laura repeated. Asami had disappeared off and had climbed the ladder that served as an access to the attic bedroom. The children heard buzzing echoing from the room above them and cautiously climbed the ladder.

They found Asami wobbling on the top of a set of blow up mattresses that covered the majority of the floor. "Think of it as one big slumber party" Asami joked

"pensar en ello como una gran fiesta de pijamas" this earned a collective chuckle from all the children

"¿Qué hay de Laura y Rebecca?"

"what about me and Rebecca?" Laura translated just so Asami knew what they were talking about, "Rebecca y yo dormimos en una de las habitaciones de abajo con Asami en nuestra habitación" she explained, "me and Rebecca sleep downstairs with Asami in our room" the other children looked confused, "mis pesadillas y la incapacidad de Rebecca para hablar" the other children nodded sadly and hugged Laura

"you know, Korra could sleep in the same room as those two and I could sleep on the landing out there?" Asami offered

"Sabes, Korra podía dormir en la misma habitación que Rebecca y Laura, y Asami podía dormir ahí afuera?" Laura indicated the landing with her finger. The other children looked at Asami in surprise

"What? You need someone nearby to help you settle in, then that's no problem"

"¿Qué? Necesitas a alguien cercano para que te ayude a instalarse, entonces eso no es problema" Asami found herself tangled up in five pairs of arms, all the children moved forward to hug her as one. Asami smiled widely, thankful she was able to help protect the children. Twenty minutes later she had led down on the hard floor of the landing and was watching the children play and get comfortable before they fell asleep


	21. The Search: Part II

"Lin?"

"mmmph"

"sweetie time to wake up"

"Mmphh g'way, mornings are evil" Lin grumbled sleepily

"wake up, Korra"

"Why did you call me Korra?" Lin had finally opened her eyes and looked up at Kya

"because you were talking like her"

"she has a point though, mornings are evil"

"true"

"Where are we?"

"the other side of the valley"

"Oh so we are"

"there is a problem though, those Transigen scumbags have put up a perimeter around the valley and are checking cars"

"luckily we don't have anything to hide"

"Good morning"

"that... Is open to debate" Lin replied, she saw Kuvira pull up in her car a few cars behind them, "what's going on?" Kya asked after lowering her window

"some missing government property was last seen in this area so we're checking all the cars that travel through this area"

"Oh right"

"hey! Gate five have found something!" another soldier ran up

"What?"

"Gate five have found something!"

"Excuse me, ladies" the first soldier asked politely, Lin nodded, Kya put the window back up and they shared a worried glance

"you think this is because of the kids?"

"bájate de mí!!" a boy's voice yelled, there was a crackle of electricity and a scream

"shit"

"Where's Kuv off to?"

"I don't know"

*

Kuvira had got out of her car and had ran over to the boy who had a blade embedded deep in his side, she took a fighting stance and stood with him under her. "looks like we're up" Lin murmured and opened her door. "what's going on?" Lin yelled at Kuvira, "what are you doing?"

"they just threw a knife at this kid!" Kuvira bellowed back, getting what Lin was trying to do immediately, "i don't care if he shot another three tasers off at these men, they shouldn't be hurting him, he's a kid"

"What?!"

"he's a technopath actually" one of the men grunted, "he's able to manipulate technology and one of our escaped experiments, we own him"

"Last time I checked you couldn't experiment on children? Or own anyone for that matter" Kya growled

"he's not a real child"

"he looks it to me" Kuvira had tilted her head to one side, a telltale sign she was about to attack

"he's a mutie"

"So?"

"So that means he's the property of the United States military"

"And this is Canada, the US have no jurisdiction here?" Kuvira replied, feigning confusion

"True, but we, as a private contractor do. Company name is Transigen, look us up"

"We don't need to" Lin had dropped into a fighting stance

"Where are the others?" Kya followed Lin's lead

"Tell us, and we won't hurt you..." Kuvira growled

"too badly" Lin concluded, she knew she could stop their pathetic weapons if she wished, since Magneto had died there was no reason for the government to stay with the plastic weapons they had used before. _Let's use their stupid mistake against them_

"you?" another man clicked the safety off of his gun, "there's only three of you"

"more than enough" Kya smirked, "i could kill you all single handedly if I had to" she then looked around at the other two, "once I disable their weapons you two go in and attack, I'll take the child" Kya had whispered incredibly quietly

"right. Ready, Great Uniter?" Lin muttered

"ready, Turtle Duck"

"fire" the lead man barked, there were a few clicks then... Nothing. Lin jumped forward and so did Kuvira, they threw themselves at the Transigen men, quickly bending themselves a blade in each hand in order to dispatch the men. Kya had knelt down by the boy and was applying gentle pressure to his side. Lin and Kuvira made quick work of several of the men in the time it took Kya to kneel down next to the child

*

"aaaaaaaahhh" there was a collective shout and another four children ran into the clearing. one ran forward at the attackers, summoning vines while encouraging the grass to grow and ensnare the attacking Transigen men as she ran, one stayed close behind the girl who was attacking but also near to the three ladies and the injured child, watching the Transigen men carefully and two ran over to the group. One lifted her finger to her head and a large number of the men froze allowing Lin and Kuvira to kill them even quicker and the other held her hand to the injured boy's side once Lin had bent the blade out of him and thrown it through another attacker

*

Once the last Transigen man fell under her and Kuvira's blades, they turned and walked casually back to the group. "n-ice trick with the guns, Kya" Lin muttered

"all I did was jam up their mechanisms" Kya replied while trying to hold on the laughter at Lin's bad pun

"There's the second lot of kids then" Lin smiled at the children surrounding them

"Who are you" one of them asked timidly

"My name is Lin, this is Kya and this is Kuvira. We came to help you"

"I remember you" another declared, "you were in that cave, or at least, you two were" she pointed at Lin and Kya

"what are your names?" Lin paused, "¿cuales son tus nombres?"

"mi nombre es Erica, Soy un telépata" a girl stood in front of Lin and smiled nervously, "el chico que pidió tus nombres es Stephan, un technopath" he waved nervously, "la chica que te recuerda se llama Julie, ella puede crear campos de fuerza"

"Hola"

"la niña que sanó a Stephan se llama April y puede curar la mayoría de las heridas"

"hey" she smiled at Lin and the others

"y finalmente la última chica se llama Jamaica, ella es capaz de controlar las plantas"

"Hola" Kuvira smiled at the children. "I'll take them back or you take them back?"

"Either way, we are running out of time" Kya declared

"It had better be you and me, Kya, cos you're a healer, Kuv will you be fine carrying on by yourself for a while?"

"Sure, don't worry about me, I'll try not to save too many lives without you"

"If you see an opportunity to pick up the other children, then do it" Lin ordered

"Whatever you say, Turtle Dick"

"Grrr" Lin growled and bristled, "let's get this lot out of here before I impale the 'Great Uniter' on something sharp

*

she's joking" Kya explained to the children before she and Lin helped them all in and ensured they all had their seatbelts on, they then drove off in a hurry. The female with the telepathic powers whispered quietly and put her finger to her head. All the civilians surrounding what now looked like a chaotic war zone instead of an orderly checkpoint went blank faced for a few minutes, they were forgetting what had just happened right in front of their very eyes. Finally they walked away without so much as a backward glance, got in their vehicles and drove away. Lin and Kya fled the scene as fast as they could, realising they couldn't go back through the valley in case they ran into more checkpoints so they opted on the longer but safer route around the valley instead of through it. Kuvira meanwhile walked up to the checkpoint mobile buildings and went inside, destroying all of the CCTV equipment she found, then she too left the scene and continued heading west in her Audi, back the way they had come.

*

*

Laura and Rebecca were woken for school at the same time as their first day but this time they put their school uniform on. Elizabeth had cooked breakfast for them and herself while Korra helped Rebecca get dressed, some parts of the uniform too fiddly for her to do by herself. Korra had gained back much of her strength in her arms as well as some in her legs and core, the orthoses she had doing wonders for her. "morning" Elizabeth yawned to the girls

"where's mama?"

"your mama is still on the landing in the attic" Korra replied, she watched with pride when Laura shot off to give Asami two goodbye kisses. "aww she's so sweet" Korra whispered, Rebecca looked down sadly and Korra pulled a silly face to make her smile, "there you go there's that smile that can light up even the darkest days" Korra grinned

"I love you" Asami hurried to Rebecca and kissed her, "my daughter"

"mama" Rebecca sighed contentedly, she was then kissed by Korra and picked up by her

"Let's get you out to the car, Rebecca" Korra smiled then smothered her face in kisses earning some giggles from Rebecca and Laura when she did the same thing to her as well. Korra carried Rebecca out to the car since her wheelchair was still in the car

"I'd better get back upstairs" Asami said and hurried off again.

*

"goodbye mommy! Goodbye mama!" Asami smiled sadly when she heard their voices, she wished she would've been able to go with them to school but she knew she had to be there when the other children woke up. Asami sat on the uncomfortable landing while absentmindedly sketching some new weapon designs to use on those 'Transigen bastards'.

"'Sami?"

"Yes, Korra?"

"Do you want breakfast?"

"breakfast in bed, how nice" Asami replied sardonically

"sorry, 'Sami, when mama and mom get back we'll have to ask them if they can get a bed up there 'til we can get the children settled

"Korra, what are we gonna do about school for all of them?"

"Ask that nice head guy?"

"He'd have to put on a whole extra class to cater for all of the children though"

"I'm sure we could pay him to do so?"

"Hmm maybe"

"'Sami, when are we going to tell Laura and Rebecca about what happened?"

"to Jonah?" Asami's thoughts had been full of images of not just Jonah, but the others lying how he was, spread-eagled on the floor, their hair a mess and half their chest and stomach missing. She had always had to stifle a sob when she saw Laura or Rebecca like that. It wasn't that she didn't care about the other children, she did, but she hadn't become attached to them in the same way yet. "I don't know sweetie, there's probably no right time, right?"

"I wouldn't know" Korra replied sadly, "I'm going to go and make us some breakfast, then I'm going to the pool to do some hydrotherapy stuff"

"I would come and join you but I can't"

"Don't worry about it, sweetie"

*

Korra disappeared off, Asami heard distant rattling and whistling coming from where the kitchen was and about twenty minutes later Korra had awkwardly climbed the ladder using her abilities to carry the tray up without spilling anything. Korra put the tray down and stood on the ladder. "you need any help?" Asami asked

"I got this" Korra summoned an even bigger ball of air and lifted herself up on to the landing where she took her braces off and tried to get comfortable on the hard floor, the thin carpet not doing much to cushion her behind

"sweetie it's very nice of you getting yourself up here but how are you going to get down again?"

"one thing at a time, 'Sami, first, let's finish this wonderful breakfast in bed" Korra handed Asami her breakfast and she moved so she was sitting next to the darker skinned girl, throwing her bed covers over herself as well as Korra

"Thank you" Asami whispered, she kissed Korra's nose and began to eat in earnest

"we also need to decide what to do about food for that lot, we can't continue getting pizzas for them all every night"

"No, I suppose you're right, maybe look online?"

"good idea" Asami smiled, Elizabeth had been good enough to set the two of them up with accounts on both her laptop and the desktop, with another account for Laura and Rebecca to share, "there is a barbecue outside" Asami commented

"in this weather?" Korra asked, surprised, "the forecast suggests snow will soon start to fall"

"shit..."

"Asami, what?"

"The other children"

"fuck, you're right, we have got to find them quickly else they'll freeze to death out there!"

"Finish breakfast first, Korra" Asami mumbled

"But..."

"no, Korra, you can call them after you finish"

"fine" Korra pouted

"you know, Korra, I've never seen you pout over having to finish a meal before"

"I'm worried about the kids" Korra replied dejectedly

"don't worry, Lin, Kya and Kuvira will find them"

"I hope you're right"

*

Base camp to Turtle Duck and Great Uniter, do you copy, over?" Korra waited for nearly a minute before trying again, "Turtle Duck and Great Uniter, come in please" she heard movement two floors above her but she continued to focus on the radio. "Turtle Duck, Great Uniter, please come in?" Korra waited another five minutes and after trying again she threw down the mic unit. "Shit"

"can't get through?"

"Nope"

"damnit"

"Asami what are you doing down here?"

"The kids are awake, they're just getting dressed now. I told them to go into the bathroom one at a time to get dressed"

"jeez that's gonna take some time once we've got them all here"

"i know, but they are between ten and fifteen, they need privacy"

"I agree"

*

"Good morning" Korra smiled down at the timid children sitting on the couches in front of her, "and welcome to our home, well strictly speaking it's our friend Eliz's house, or her parents' house but for now it's ours" she looked over at Delilah who was translating and smiled encouragingly, "Laura and Rebecca had to leave earlier for school but they'll be back in..." she looked at the clock, "five hours"

"Mommy Korra" Mira whispered

"yes?"

"Why do Laura and Rebecca call you mommy?"

"because we adopted them, Mira"

"why?"

"Because they needed a family"

"is it nice being in a family?"

"i certainly think so, but you'll have to ask Laura and Rebecca when they get home from school"

"otay"

"Are any of you hungry?" Asami had asked, "I'm going to cook porridge and Korra can do toast so..."

"Yes" the children answered as one

"alright then, make two lines, one this side of the counter for porridge, the other for toast, four slices each, right, Korra?"

"right, Asami"

*

Most of the children had lined up on Asami's side, wanting to try this porridge stuff but one had joined Korra. "alright, four bowls of porridge coming right up" she got the biggest saucepan she could find and quickly made the porridge, she was soon spooning out generous portions of porridge and adding sugar to it to make the children even happier. While they were eating, a crackling came across the room

"Korra..."

"On it"

"Turtle Duck to Base Camp, Turtle Duck to Base Camp"

"loud and clear, Turtle Duck"

"prep triage, we are twenty minutes out"

"Shit" Asami swore and hurried off, she dragged a huge box back in while muttering to herself, "ice packs, check, bandages, check, CPAP, check" she continued mumbling while walking. Once she got to the lounge area she pulled out plastic sheets and began covering the floor with them. "Korra would you mind rolling this out to the bathroom?" she asked, throwing a sizable roll of plastic to her girlfriend

"sure"

"Turtle Duck, how many Ducklings do you have?"

"five"

"Anything we should be aware of?"

"Negative, except from the fact that our Ducklings are very muddy"

"Ducklings?" Delilah asked

"Kids, finish up that food, I think it's time for a morning swim, don't you?"

"Swimming? In the morning?"

"Turtle Duck to Base Camp, one of our Ducklings seems to be unwell, over"

"Roger that, we're all prepped this end"

"right, we're coming up the drive now"

"last one to the pool is a rotten egg!" Asami exclaimed and she and all the children ran for the pool

"Asami's a rotten egg, Asami's a rotten egg" the children cheered a few minutes later, they had all speed changed and beaten Asami to the pool

"good thinking Asami" Korra breathed

*

The door barged open and Kya came in first, carrying a weak looking teenage girl. "what happened?" Korra asked

"we don't know, she sorta started coughing and burning up on the way back here" Lin muttered, worried

"what about the rest?"

"they seem fine"

The girl in Kya's arms coughed but didn't wake. "I'm taking her to the hospital" Kya declared, she ran back to the car and took off for the hospital, ringing Doctor Smith en route

Ten minutes later, Korra turned to Lin, "These children all seem to be reasonably healthy, a few bruises here and there but other than that they're in quite good shape" she declared, "but we'd better keep a close eye on them for a while"

"Base Camp, this is River"

"go ahead"

"We're at the hospital, she has pneumonia and anaemia"

"shit. Well, at least it's nothing infectious" Lin muttered

"we'll make sure everyone else is taken care of" Korra added

"Good, River out"

"Bath time you four" Korra smiled down at them, she took one of them by their hand and led them into the bathroom that was downstairs, Lin took another one and showed her where the en suite shower room was then returned to the group and showed the last two where the other shower rooms were, they hadn't used the attic bathroom initially because it was too difficult to get to without leaving a horrible mess all over the carpets, but now they had the plastic sheeting it was a lot easier.

*

"well done you" Korra smiled at her mother proudly

"It was a team effort" Lin replied. One by one the new arrivals returned to the room they had come from, being careful not to tread on the filthy plastic sheeting that still covered the carpet. They were all wearing new clothes that had been put out for them by Korra and Lin, their old clothes still in the bathrooms. "hey, there they are" Lin smiled serenely down at the four children who had joined them. She looked slyly at Korra, "do you think they're ready?"

"yes"

"then come with me kids" Lin smiled and led them into the pool area

"Déjà vu" Asami muttered but the yelling and screaming that the children made were a lot louder and exuberant than before as the children took joy in seeing some of the others. They were happy, truly happy

*

"River to Base Camp, River to Base Camp"

"Go ahead River"

"she's not good, they've admitted her to hospital for urgent treatment, she's going to have food, fluids and drugs I think"

"how long?"

"I don't know, someone ought to stay here in case she wakes up though"

"Right, looks like we won't be going back out to the Uniter tonight"

"doesn't look like it"

"Wonder what her name is?" Asami asked quietly

"it's April"

"The healer?" Lin whispered in shock

"yup"

"guess she didn't know how to heal pneumonia and I guess malnutrition isn't easy to heal"

"someone will be there soon to keep you company"

"Don't worry about me I'll be fine"

"but..."

"I mean it, out"

*

*

"Laura!" Elizabeth's voice seemed distant to her, the children she was with had been playing mothers and babies, the boys were playing the fathers with dolls filling the part of the babies and that was enough to induce a flashback. She and Rebecca had been helping out in one of the younger classes but Elizabeth noticed some of the warning signs and had to interrupt the game, "I'm sorry, kids you'll have to carry on without her" Elizabeth whispered as she led Laura away to calm down.

*

"Laura... Laura... Concentrate on the sound of my voice" Elizabeth had taken her to the school hall where the large area would hopefully calm her. Enclosed spaces felt too much like the room she was imprisoned in back at Transigen, the nurse's office reminded her too much of the surgical room where the adimantium was grafted to her bones and the outside reminded her of where her father had died because of the wooded area at one end. "Laura!"

"E... Eliz... Help me" she whispered

"Back off!" Elizabeth demanded when one of the other support staff entered the hall

"Miss Shaw... What?"

"take it up with the principal, he will tell you I have full permission to do whatever I have to to calm her down" Elizabeth glared at him while Laura grew more and more panicked, "you're upsetting her you have to leave!"

He left in a hurry but was very confused by the whole thing. "Eliz... Why did my daddy have to die?"

"Transigen's monster got him didn't it?"

Laura nodded, "and I killed it"

That was news to Elizabeth, "then it can't ever hurt you or anyone else ever again"

Laura sobbed, "i want my daddy back"

"i know... Hey, how about I get mama to come here?" she had already hit the panic button of course but she didn't tell Laura that, there was a distant screech of tyres and shouting.

*

"Miss Shu, what are you doing here?"

"Don't get in our way, Mrs whoever you were"

"Mrs Jones, let them in" the principal instructed, "i was told it might come down to this so let them in, their daughter is very distressed and she needs her parents"

"Alright" she buzzed the lock and let them in

"Where is she?"

"In the school hall, do you know the way?"

"yes"

"then get going"

*

"Laura!!"

"Mommy!!"

"Laura!"

"mama!!" Laura ran to her parents with tears flowing freely, "i love you"

"we love you too sweetie, now, come on, let's get you calm" Korra took Laura in her arms and Asami sat behind her, rubbing small circles on her back in an effort to calm her. "we're here, Laura" Korra cooed, "we're here"

*

An hour and a half later, Laura was finally calm enough. They had had to move out of the hall because of lunchtime and lunchtime had started fifteen minutes before the time Laura was finally calm enough to rejoin her peers. "go on sweetie" Korra encouraged

Laura walked out into the hall, her eyes still red from crying. she got a few curious glances as she walked back to Rebecca but when she got there she found herself in a massive group hug, all of her friends wanted her to know that they cared and since it was most of her class and a few from the other class, she had a huge cuddle waiting for her

"you really weren't kidding" Mr Jones had been standing behind them a hint of pride on his face at how most of the children in Laura's class had greeted her

"No, and we have something else to ask of you too"

"shall we go to my office?"

"sure"

A few minutes later they were seated, "now what did you want to discuss with me?"

"we have found more children"

"come again?"

"you remember how we told you Rebecca and Laura are adopted?"

"yeah"

"What we didn't tell you was that we found them, they were homeless, starving and vulnerable when we found them, literally _found_ them"

"That links in with the trauma?"

"Partly"

"how many children have you found?"

"we aren't sure on the final number yet but we found another ten"

"ten?!" the principal went white, "how... How did this happen? How did they not get picked up by social services or the police or anyone?"

"we aren't sure, the only thing we knew was that these vulnerable children were out there in the freezing cold in November, December and January are fast approaching with their even colder weather so we did the only decent thing, we took them in and gave them a home"

"You are truly kind people" he commented

"They probably won't be ready to join until the new year but then... they'll need a school"

"both of our sixth grade classes are full"

"well, shit."

"But I could see what I can do, we do have a spare classroom and often have a couple of spare teachers ready to cover should any teacher have to go off somewhere in a hurry"

"Thank you!"

*

*

"fucking hell it's taking them a lot longer than I thought to get back out here" Kuvira sighed, "or even turn to the range extender's frequency so I can actually talk to them"

"Great Uniter, this is Base Camp, testing the new range extenders and checking up on your progress"

"Base Camp! It's about damn time"

"I'm sorry"

To Kuvira, Asami sounded haggard, stressed and upset, "wait what's happened?"

"One of the Ducklings is in hospital and Garra had an episode in school, we're also worried because the snow is fast approaching"

"i know..." you'll be disappointed to know I haven't seen a single sign of any of the others, and whatever trail that would've been left by them tromping through the snow is long gone, that's if they had even walked through the snow of course"

"i know... Uniter, I'm scared, one of the Ducklings has pneumonia and malnutrition and the flashbacks seem to be getting worse, not better"

"Crap"

"and to make matters worse there's still no sign?"

Kuvira saw something out of the corner of her eye, "wait"

"Oh?"

"Stay on the line" Kuvira got out, pulled her coat tight around herself and went to investigate. "Base Camp, we have a problem"

"what is it?"

"Transigen got to them before we did"

"Oh... Oh fuck"

"I'm going to follow the car tracks, get here... Soon"

*

*

"Roger that." Asami put down the radio. "SHIT!"

Korra hurried in, "what?"

"Transigen got them..."

"fuck"

"Hello all, we're home!" Elizabeth wheeled in and saw Korra and Asami's faces, "what?"

"the others have been captured" Korra said simply, relieved that Laura and Rebecca had gone straight through to where the other children were playing

"I'm going to radio Lin and then we're going to go out and free them. Eliz, will you stay here and look after the kids?"

"of course" Elizabeth nodded, "hope they don't mind pizza"

"Turtle Duck, you and River need to return to Base Camp, immediately"

"what's going on?"

"Those bastards got there before we did"

It took a few seconds for it to sink in but then Lin was swearing profusely under her breath, "right, we're on our way" Lin left Elizabeth's phone number with the nurse's station before she and Kya left, just in case


	22. Transigen

"Let's. Do. This." Korra and Asami had joined Lin and Kya and they were all converging on foot on the location Kuvira had found. Kuvira had followed the convoy of Transigen vehicles when they crossed back into American territory then preceded to an unmarked facility without knowing that Kuvira had followed them there. The children had been left in the back of the van overnight and were heavily sedated but were moved into cells the next morning. They knew they weren't going to make it out alive and they were all terrified. Even Mako and Rictor were terrified although they were terrified for different reasons from the rest.

"will it hurt?" Bolin asked Mako, the fear evident in his eyes

"i dunno, Bo" Mako replied through his cage which had been supercooled to prevent him firebending. Bolin's cage was made of wood and each of the other children were similarly in a single person cage each that negated or weakened their abilities. Mako was only scared because his brother was in a cage as well and Rictor was scared for everyone but himself

"fallé" Rictor sighed, he was being tied up and led away to who knows where with the eyes of everyone he had saved upon him, some of the younger ones were letting silent tears fall

*

"right." Korra stood proudly in front of the main entrance, she would be the diversion

"hey! Who are you?"

"my name is Korra... _Avatar_ _Korra_ "

"I'm afraid you can't be here! _Avatar_ Korra...?" the guard barked, confused by the young woman's words

"Who's gonna stop me, you?" Korra was mocking the man, she watched the other four drop over the wall and into the compound after Asami had filled a nearby CCTV camera with electricity

"if I must" he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the woman

"my job here is done anyway" Korra muttered and began to walk away, she got a few hundred metres away then forced her arm out in front of her, her brace increasing the amount of force she could put behind the movement. There was a gigantic whoosh and a wall of air threw the guard fifteen feet through the air and slammed the unfortunate man into the concrete barrier that could be raised or lowered to allow access to the facility, the man felt most of the bones in his back burst from the force of the impact. "Hell yeah!" Korra exclaimed, she lifted herself in a bubble of air and flew back towards the concrete barrier between her and the facility which she flew over effortlessly. She had crushed the man effortlessly using the ground which had swallowed him whole and crushed him. She had left enough of the man in tact so he wouldn't die straight away though. _Buried alive_ she thought while smiling

*

Lin was hiding in the shadows, she had already ambushed three Transigen employees and plunged the metal she was bending deep into their sides in such a way that they'd slowly bleed out over a number of days. Lin's time as a Chief of Police gave her unique knowledge that she was now putting to good use. She could see Kya and Kuvira from where she was hidden, Kya was freezing the air inside her victims' lungs and freezing their blood in their arms and legs and Kuvira was simply slitting their throats. _Efficient_ Lin thought, _but nowhere near cruel enough Uniter, come on!_ As if she were responding to Lin's thoughts, Kuvira switched to punching her next few victims' chests in with a metal clad hand. _That's better, Uniter_

*

Asami was confidently walking towards an access on the roof and she overloaded the locking control with her glove. She poked her head through the door and pulled on a white overcoat which hid her clothes and her portable radio as well as allowing her to blend in. She didn't really know where she was going but fortunately where she had wandered to had a handy map of the facility right in front of her. She studied it, noticing the medical rooms and the cells which were on opposite sides of the building. _Medical facilities first_. She crept towards that side of the building and she heard frightened whimpering which quietened all of a sudden, _we're too late!!_ Asami broke into a run and reached the medical rooms. She noticed a body of a boy on the floor, it wasn't moving. _Shit!!_ The door opened and another body was dropped unceremoniously on top of the first with little respect. She recognised the first body but not the second. _Oh no, Rictor_ she thought sadly

"Go get the next one. Those two are ready for incineration"

It took Asami a few seconds to realise that the doctor was talking to her. "no" she replied

"that wasn't a request, it was an ordaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Asami was on him, she shoved her shoulder into his chest and bowled him over into the second person

"i will never allow you to kill children!" Asami hissed, she pulled out her glove and grabbed him,fuck you 'doctor'. She activated the glove and the electricity tore through his manhood, he shrieked in agony. The other person,a 'nurse'Asami had reasoned, attempted to run but didn't get far, mainly because Asami had thrown one of her blades with all her might at the man's retreating back. The knife, having been fashioned from some scrap metal Lin had grabbed on her way past a scrapheap, flew down the length of the corridor and embedded itself in the man's lower back with a dull thud. The man squeaked and stumbled, he fell forward and began dragging himself away using only his arms, the knife rendering his legs useless. Asami kept her grip on the first man's manhood and activated a beacon which she hid under a nearby sink. The beacon would guide Kya to this location, she could finish off the men. Asami took the first man's card key from around his neck and let go of his groin. The man hadn't been screaming for a while but a quick look showed her that the man was still fully conscious.

*

"gotcha" Kya growled, she now had a destination to head to. She pelted a nearby fire door with sharp ice blades then ripped it off its hinges using the ice. She ran down the corridor and quickly dealt with two Transigen employees that she had come across while running. Kya arrived in the medical facility and discovered two men were already down in the facility but so were two children. She kicked the first man over on to his front and smiled when she saw the burn marks that Asami had left him with. "Ouch, sucks balls to be you" she commented, she decided to leave the man be for now, he was in a satisfying amount of pain for the time being and instead began walking towards the second man. He was about to hit a fire alarm button but before he could, Kya launched a thin stream of water down the length of the corridor that sliced through flesh and bone. The man reeled back, yelling once again, his legs useless as his arm fell to the floor with a quiet splat

*

"We've been ordered to administer this medication to the children to make them more docile after that second kid caused a fair bit of damage with his tongue"

Asami crept closer, she saw one man hand a box over to another man through a panel on the wall. "right you are, is this sedative?"

"no it's a paralysing agent"

"right" Asami moved in behind the second man, noticing that the hatch had been shut and locked

"excuse me could you tell me where the bathroom is?" she asked sweetly

"Yeah sure they're five doors down on the right..."

"Thank you" Asami patted him on the shoulder and pulled her second knife across his throat, she had fallen into step alongside the man on his left hand side and immediately shoved him through the door into the toilet, straight into a cubicle where she used a small screwdriver she had to lock the cubicle door while the man had both his hands on his throat, trying to stop the blood. He was ultimately unsuccessful, by the time the door had shut behind Asami he had grown still. "nice to meet you too" she gave herself a once over and satisfied there was no blood on her overcoat she walked around the area and tried to find a way in to the children

*

Kya had finished tearing up the medical rooms, she had iced the door locking mechanisms to make sure she wasn't disturbed and had laid waste to them in under ten minutes. She bent the liquid medications in the bottles around her and turned them into missiles and blades. She walked up to the second man who was still whimpering since the loss of his arm. "man up you pussy" Kya snarled, she then froze the moisture in his lungs and left him to die a slow death, the ice punching holes in the delicate inner structures of his lungs. She then did the same to the first man and hid then both in a closet. Satisfied, she left the area and walked in the direction she had seen Asami go in.

*

Asami had found her way inside the holding area with the children although the way she had got in was less than dignified. She had pulled herself through an air duct and tumbled out of it, her hair a mess and a few of her nails in tatters. She realised quickly that she had tumbled on top of a cage. She looked down and saw a boy no older than twelve slumped against the inner wall of the cage. What did surprise her though was that the boy gave no indication that he had noticed her, she noticed the webbing of tubes suspended above the cages, she saw one of the tubes went down into the cage and into the boy's neck. "shit" Asami hissed, she made a snap decision and sliced her way through the tubing, she jumped from cage to cage as quietly as she could, slicing tubes as she went. She counted twenty cages but only five of them had children in them. She sliced those tubes but was too late. She heard a machine start up and she was running to slice the last line but she didn't get there quite in time. A bluey-green liquid flowed down the tube and into a boy she recognised, Bolin. Bolin's breathing became more strained even though Asami had sliced through the tubing, his body seemed to tense and then it was shaking.

Asami couldn't get to him and his eyes locked with hers, a pleading look crossed his eyes, it yelled one word, and that was the one thing Asami wasn't able to do. Another Transigen employee passed near her unaware that she was there. Asami dropped on to her and sliced her face up with her third knife. she then shoved her into Bolin's cage face first so she would see what the company were doing to the children, it worked, her breathing became ragged and her skin colour went a pasty grey. "oh my" she breathed

"tell me how to open the cages" she growled

"over... Over there... There's a control panel, use my card key and it'll release the children" she replied

"right" Asami took her card key, "if you're lying to me I'll slit your throat" Asami warned

"I'm not lying" Asami got up and walked to the control panel. She inserted the card and pressed a few buttons, the cages released and opened. "see?"

*

The wall tore itself apart and Kya, Lin and Kuvira walked in. "kill her" Lin ordered and before Asami could stop her, Kuvira had slit the woman's throat. Asami didn't really feel any regret though, she was Transigen.

"All the kids that are still alive are in this room" Asami stated

"grab as many as you can, we're getting out of here" Lin ordered. Kya grabbed two, Kuvira grabbed two and Asami grabbed the last one. Lin led the way back out through the newly formed door and came face to face with someone she hadn't expected to see so soon. "Ming-Hua" she nodded

"i see you have an interest in these young mutants just like we do"

'what of it?"

"how about we make a deal, you hand over the muties and I'll let you live?"

"no deal"

"very well" she took a waterbending stance and Kya put the two children she was carrying down

"take them and get out of here" Kya ordered, the water from the sprinkler system was pulled down and it surrounded her. "I'll deal with this"

"you'll deal with me?" Ming-Hua laughed, she launched water attack after water attack all of which seemed to miss by less than a few millimetres

"You can't knock me down!" Kya laughed, she was watching Ming-Hua closely, or that's what she thought at least. "ready?"

"ready" came a voice from behind Ming-Hua, she felt herself get picked up by her own water tentacles and thrown around by a woman behind her. Something cracked inside her body sending a lance of pain all the way down her body. She slumped to the floor and two women stepped over her.

"leave her. She'll be killed when we blow the building"

*

Kya and Korra left the building together, they didn't stop for anyone even when they got in the way. Korra simply stomped her foot and threw them through the ceiling. They ran through the building then finally they were outside, Korra shot to the front of the group and split the gigantic concrete barrier with a single finger. The barrier flew apart like a shed in a hurricane and pelted three other people with debris, all of whom were knocked unconscious by the force of the debris. "Ghazan. P'Li" Lin pointed to them and they hurried on

"Who was the third?"

"haven't a clue" Lin and the others loaded the children into the cars. They had taken Bolin with them but had left Rictor and the other boy because they simply couldn't carry them. There was a distant roar. "what was that?" Lin asked, she turned to see a single person running towards them. "they never give up do they?" Lin shot a metal spike through the man's chest and he roared again but kept coming.

*

Pop. Pop. BOOM! Lin and the others jumped into the air and turned. The woman with tattoos was on her feet once again, she was stood with the bald man and the long haired tattooed man who were by his side and looked mad. The man that hadn't been stopped by a metal spike through the chest was thrown off his feet but soon he was back up again and charging. Long metal blades protruded from his hands and he threw himself at the three only to be snagged in midair by Ming-Hua. At only a few inches away from the bald man it had been close. "over there! That woman is a mutant!" Ming-Hua was pointing at Kya.

"Shit" Kya growled she took a step forward, prepared to defend herself. P'Li looked at them and breathed in but at the same second, the man took a swipe at P'Li. The bald man was forced to blast P'Li with air, shoving her out of the way but causing her explosion to miss. Pop. Pop. BOOM! The wayward shot hit the Transigen building and it exploded, the building was blown apart by the explosives Asami had planted and many deadly shards flew out of the where the building had been, coating the area around the building, several of which flew into the man but not even that stopped his relentless charge. Ghazan threw chunks of earth at the man but that didn't stop him either so he shifted to lava and created a lava moat around the three of them. The man went to leap over the lava but was hit to the side by a gust of air from the bald man. "that must be Zaheer" Kya muttered, "leader of the Red Lotus."

"c'mon let's get outta here while they're distracted" Lin insisted. Ghazan had began launching rocks at both them and the mystery man who was knocking them out of the way with his claws.

"shit" Asami growled, one of the boulders had landed on one of the children's legs

"Allow me" Korra lifted it and threw it to one side

*

"What the fuck is this thing?!" Zaheer's voice could be heard in the distance, Ghazan was now pelting lava at the man, he was dodging but was caught by one. Immediately the air filled with the stench of burning flesh but the wound didn't remain there for long. "he's got a pretty formidable healing factor, P'Li, you're up"

P'Li took a step forward. Pop. Pop. BOOM! The clawed man was thrown to the side by the explosion that had come from P'Li's mind, a massive wound visible on his chest. "ouch..."

"mama if that man's healing abilities are anything like Laura's, that's really just a flesh wound"

"We gotta move" the Red Lotus were getting closer to them. Lin and Kya shoved them into the car and drove away as fast as they could, Korra batting away a chunk of rock as they drove.

"how are the kids?"

"not good, all still paralysed, the kid who was poisoned, Bolin, is still alive but his body is slowly giving up. Asami, you saved him from immediate death when you sliced through the tubes"

"they were going to kill them in front of the others?"

"Yes, Korra, they were going to die with their friends watching"

"sick Transigen pigs"

*

*

Pop. Pop. BOOM! "this bastard has caused us enough problems. Ghazan, sink him"

"right away, Zaheer" there was a spluttering sound, Zaheer spun to find Ming-Hua had the man's claws buried deep in her stomach. Ghazan screamed his pain then turned the ground under the man into lava, as he went to leap away, Ghazan raised his hand, the lava rose up around him and dragged him back down while screaming. "die!!" Ghazan screamed, he lavabent more lava on top of the man and watched the man finally grow still.

They turned at a noise to see a man clapping. "Xavier Rice" the man said. Ghazan prepared to attack but the man held up his hand. "you do that and another three of our X-24 clones will attack you"

"X-24?"

"Yes, that's what he" Rice indicated the pool of lava, "was. Now I think we're both after the same thing, those mutant children. Work with us"

"we work alone" Zaheer grunted

"Very well, just don't attack our base or kill our men again"

"We didn't" Ghazan grunted

"oh?"

"a bunch of girls attacked your base, we were trying to stop them"

"Good joke, run along then before I decide to release our clones and have them tear you limb from limb"

"Let's go" Zaheer stepped in and Ghazan formed a platform out of earth which shot away from Rice

"amateurs" Rice grunted while he watched them retreat with the body of their fallen comrade, "well I guess they didn't want to be dishonourable and leave her dead in a battlefield" he turned and walked back to his vehicle and began his own journey. He knew he had to retrieve the children once again

Lin, Asami and Kuvira were driving while Korra and Kya kept an eye on the children. Three were in the car with Lin and Kya and two were in the car with Korra and Asami. Kuvira was bringing up the rear. "how's Bolin?" Lin asked nervously

"near critical"

"are we going to be able to get to the hospital?"

"if we keep this pace up, yes, we should be able to get there in time, the total distance is about fifty miles"

"and we're going along at a hundred and ten so..."

"We need to keep going"

"Heiress to Turtle Duck"

"go ahead"

"Are you ready to make the border crossing?"

"yup"

*

Lin braced herself and tore through the border fencing. Once the three cars were through she saw Kuvira close the fence up again out of the corner of her eye. She was forming an earthen road to try to keep the ride across the fields as smooth as possible for the injured children. They arrived back on the road that would take them straight to Montreal and she, Asami and Kuvira floored their cars again. "one-twenty" Lin smiled, they were doing three times the legal limit. "You guys," she called over the radio, "better alert Eliz to our imminent arrival" Lin looked around at the sky, it was just beginning to get dark. "if we load the kids up into this car, me and Kya can take them to the hospital while you return home. You'll have to dispose of the cars of course"

"aww I liked my Audi" Kuvira's pout could be heard over the radio

"I'll buy you an even better one" Asami offered

"fine"

"And this old thing really is a bucket of bolts" Asami commented, "no idea what possessed me to buy a second hand BMW, whoever the previous owner was ruined the engine and the gearbox"

They pulled up just outside of Montreal, Korra and Kya loaded the children from Asami's car into Lin's then she and Kya set off for the hospital. Asami and Kuvira drove their cars past their house and Korra set them on fire with a quick blast from her hand, they then walked the shortish distance back to their home.


	23. Nearly Whole

Lin and Kya barged their way into the hospital carrying the five children. "you again?" the receptionist sighed, "very well, go to the room that you were in previously, your last grandchild is still in that room, I'll have an extra five beds brought in immediately" "thank you, also get Jonathan Smith, this kid was poisoned and he is fading" "Right"

*

*

"Hello?" Asami and Kuvira helped Korra in through the door and to the nearest couch where they dropped Korra and she freed herself from the braces

"hey" Elizabeth wheeled in and smiled, "did you get them?"

"We got most of them" Kuvira replied

"most?"

"Rictor and one other kid didn't make it"

"Laura, Rebecca and the others look up to Rictor, they'll take his death hard" Elizabeth didn't need to say 'the other mutant children' nor list them by name, Asami and Korra both knew who she meant

"Bolin's also in a bad way" Asami looked away with teary eyes

"fuck. It feels good to have rescued all of them though doesn't it?" Elizabeth whispered, eying Korra with worry, the young woman was already out for the count

"Yeah" Kuvira flopped down on the couch next to Korra and smiled at her friends

*

*

"You two again, are you back with..." Jonathan Smith stopped, "wait... What, you do know this makes no sense, you two have brought in another five children?!"

"help him" Lin pointed at Bolin and he walked over to him, "some people who wanted to hurt these children got to them before we could and they poisoned Bolin here"

"why would someone so such a thing?"

"Because they are sick twisted evil fucks" a new voice from behind them stated calmly

"Miss Shu"

"call me Emerald"

"alright, Emerald"

"Give me the sit-rep"

"Sit-rep?"

"situation report. Now"

"oh right well... These three kids are fine, just paralysed, this boy only needs casts for his legs, the girl you brought in yesterday is responding well to treatment and will be ready for discharge later this evening, so long as you are able to keep up her nutrition plan. The boy who was poisoned is alive, but barely"

 _You've been listening to your mom too much, Asami_...

"Thank you."

"you may take these three home, and him, as soon as his legs are sorted"

"We'll wait" Asami sat back and settled herself down

"Korra...?" one of the children was sat with Korra while the others lazily kicked back in the pool a few hours after Korra and the others had returned. It was getting a little later than normal for the children's bed time but since Korra knew that some of the other recently rescued children were going to be returning to the house tonight, Korra hadn't the heart to send them to bed and make them miss a chance to be happy

"Yes, Delilah?" _hurry up, Asami, it's nearly half ten_

"Laura y Rebecca te llaman mami y llaman a Asami mama, ¿está bien si ...?" Delilah blushed and the other children looked at her expectantly. "podemos unirnos a la familia?" Delilah finished quietly

Korra looked to Laura who had moved so her head was on Korra's stomach, Korra was absent-mindedly playing with Laura's hair and Laura was listening quietly. She smiled a knowing smile, "Delilah is asking on behalf of all the others if they can all join the family?" Rebecca, though sleepy, looked up hopefully

Korra paused and pretended to think very carefully for a few seconds, she lifted herself up so all the children could see and she nodded. "me and Asami were actually going to ask you once we had all of you back here" Korra smiled kindly, "the answer is yes. All of you can join the family" Korra paused then added one final word, "si"

All of the children's faces lit up with pure joy, they all rushed Korra and she was surrounded and being squeezed by nine pairs of arms, ten when Laura decided she'd join in. "muchas Gracias" yelled all the children repeatedly. Laura quickly let go and wheeled Rebecca over so she wouldn't feel forgotten. She wasn't in the pool because she needed help in the pool, more for her own safety than anything else

"Me, your mommy and Asami, your mama love all you Turtle Ducklings" Korra smiled widely and genuinely while she continued to be crushed and deafened by the overjoyed children. "aww you're all so sweet" Korra turned and kissed each child's cheek

"what in the name of... Is all this noise?!" Elizabeth wheeled through the door and stopped, just staring at the massive group hug

One of the children on the outside of the hug turned and walked over to Elizabeth, "nuestra mami dijo que si!!" she squeaked over the noise

"what?"

"Erica said their mommy said yes" Asami had walked in and was carrying two children, Lin was behind her and carrying another two. It was the latter who had spoken

"Mako!" Delilah cried, "Joey! Jackson! Tomas!" she separated from the group and ran over to them. She noticed immediately that none of them were moving and that Jackson's legs were in casts. "¿que les pasó a ellos?"

"fueron capturados por Transigen, se les dio a todos un agente paralizante y él" Lin replied, indicating the boy in her arms, "se rompieron las piernas en el escape"

"¿donde están los otros?"

"en el hospital" Lin didn't feel much like disclosing that at least two had died out of the most recent rescue as well as another from their first rescue in addition to the one was very close to death, that would definitely ruin the mood, "están paralizados, no durará mucho más". She turned to Korra and smiled, "you asked them then?"

"yup" Korra beamed back. Lin and Asami disappeared for a few moments, lying the four paralysed children on the couches where they could be watched

"well I'm going back to the hospital" Lin called as she walked out, "it's only a twenty minute walk"

"Tomorrow I'll buy us some new cars" Asami vowed and with a nod, Lin was gone

*

Korra, Asami and Elizabeth didn't see much of Kuvira until much later in the evening. She had dragged herself off to bed because she was so exhausted after their raid on the Transigen base and all the driving she had done without a chance to rest, Kya and Lin had taken it in turns while the others had only really been driving a little in comparison. "hey"

"Hey, Kuvira" Asami replied gently. She and Elizabeth had just finished cleaning up after the children's evening meals. They had bought in a lot more cutlery and crockery than what was already in the house but it was still only just enough

"got any grub left?" Kuvira mumbled

"haven't even done our own yet, nor theirs" Korra indicated the four paralysed children

"Can I help?"

"I was just going to do a simple bowl of pasta" Asami paused, "the food here is safe, by the way"

"Safe?"

"Safe from Transigen's genetic immunisation, the thing that killed all those mutants all those years ago"

"You know I never knew?"

"I've also come up with a vaccine of my own" Asami replied, "it means you lot can eat whatever you want without me needing to check it and extract the dangerous stuff"

"hey there, sweetie, hey Kuv, hey, Eliz" Korra had rejoined them, after her nap on the couch, she had been overseeing the children's bed time and helping Rebecca to settle. Rebecca was improving but she still had less stamina than before her injury

"Are they all tucked up in bed?"

"yeah, Delilah and Laura have just started their audiobook again, you know that was a brilliant idea, Asami"

"Thanks" Asami blushed

Korra saw the dismissal before it even manifested itself, "stop selling yourself short, Asami, take a compliment!"

"Alright" Asami blushed

*

"Hello all!" Lin smiled at them, she was carrying one of the children in her arms

"Is that..."

"April, not Bolin, he's still critical"

"alright, mom" Asami took April from Lin and handed her to Kuvira, she then turned back, grabbed Lin's shoulders and turned her towards the master bedroom. "go sleep" Asami muttered, "we'll wake you in a few hours and you can go back and relieve Kya then."

Lin sighed, "I'm not gonna win this an I?"

"nope"

"fine!" Lin trudged off for a nice long shower and a nap

"ugh. Still as stubborn as day one!" Asami snapped to a giggle from Korra who had moved over to wake April

"You doing grub?" Korra asked

"Yup, pasta, I'll put a bit extra in for April"

"Thanks, 'Sami" she turned back, woke April with a gentle shake and moved on to the other children. "hate seeing them like this" Korra whispered. "how are we going to give them food?"

"Lin left some notes" Kuvira chucked them to Korra who whitened

"They had food at the hospital but they gave us some in case they didn't wake"

"what does that mean?"

Korra gently turned their heads, "no..." she whispered and touched her own stomach

"what?"

"they've got feeding tubes" Korra replied, gently touching her own stomach where her own tube was still, she had pretty much forgotten about it in all the excitement

"makes sense" Asami replied, "where's the icky crap?" she moved to Korra's side, "we'll also see if we can get that thing removed once we've got some replacement cars" she looked pointedly at Korra's stomach to indicate what she was talking about

"here" Kuvira picked a bag up and returned with it to Korra's side. "I'll do it, you stay with April"

"thank you Kuvira" Korra returned to April who was just beginning to stir. "April, April" Korra cooed quietly

"¿Dónde estoy?"

"shh, April, shh... It's me, Korra. You're safe, you're at our place, you're safe" April began to calm down but Korra wasn't sure if it was her words or her tone that was calming the frightened girl. "are you hungry?" she asked

April nodded slowly, "si"

"excellent then let's get you to the table" Korra picked her up gently and soon found herself in the death grip of a terrified child. "ow... April" Korra wheezed, "you're... Strangling... Me"

April removed her arms from around Korra and let her put her down on one of the chairs. "stay" she whispered, eying Asami, Elizabeth and Kuvira with caution

"Of course" Korra plonked herself down in the seat next to April and she reached out to touch Korra's braces. "these help me move, April" Korra explained

"Korra...?" she squeaked

"yes"

"the sleeping girl, Korra?"

"yup" Korra smiled widely at April and covered her hand with her own

*

Asami was careful to approach from the front so April could see her at all times. She moved slowly and cautiously in an effort to show she was not a threat. Her actions were at least partially successful, she was able to place the bowl of food in front of April without much difficulty but she still pulled back slightly. "my name is Asami"

"Asami?" a flare of recognition hit the girl, "Asami?!" she smiled and grabbed her hand as she went to pull away

"Guess you're invited to dinner" Korra laughed, both of them were now trapped at the dinner table. Elizabeth brought the adult's food over but because April was with both Korra and Asami, she wasn't in the last bit scared. Elizabeth put the food down in front of Korra and Asami then turned to find Kuvira standing behind her with her own meal and April's

"Thank you, Kuvira" she whispered

"And thank you, Asami" Kuvira and Elizabeth whispered together

"yeah, thanks sweetie" Korra echoed. She tucked in with her usual attitude towards table manners which was ignored by everyone except April

"I've set up the boys' feeds" Kuvira piped up

"do the doctors know what the paralysing agent was? It was never mentioned at the Transigen facility when we broke in" Korra inquired

"it was some kind of scorpion, the... Uh... Shit...Shu?" Kuvira replied. "blood test positive"

"Shirshu?"

"that's the one"

"Temporary paralysis, and not fatal" Asami explained, "one of very few scorpions that aren't fatal" Korra nodded suddenly, she understood. She had been warned about that scorpion by her parents but Korra had never understood why, there were no scorpions in the snowy South Pole

*

"Oh my poor babies" Korra whispered. She was sat on the couch with April who had drifted off in Korra's lap and was watching the other three for signs of movement. Asami and Elizabeth had gone to bed and Kuvira was making sure Laura and Rebecca were alright

"thanks for waking me" Lin grumped sarcastically, catching Korra by surprise

"Sorry, mom, you looked like you needed the sleep"

"fine. Shall I take April upstairs?"

"Yeah, Asami's already up there, Kuvira is... Ah there she is"

"Lin"

"Kuvira" Lin took April gently and clambered up the ladder to the attic, she cautiously passed Asami so to not wake her and placed her in one of the few spots where there were no children already. "we need a bigger dorm room" Lin mused, clambering down the ladder again and returning to Korra who was no longer there. Instead, Kuvira sat in her place. "I'm going to go to the hospital" Lin whispered

"sure. Send Kya back here when you get there"

"will do" Lin left for the hospital just before one of the children groaned.

"hey, hey, you're safe" Kuvira whispered and the child turned to look at her. Kuvira sighed in relief, "didn't know if you were gonna make it, kid"

"Tomas"

"nice to meet you Tomas" Kuvira replied, she took him into her arms and hugged him. Tomas smiled and sighed

 _It's nice to be hugged_ Tomas thought "where are the others?"

"upstairs, in bed"

"How many?"

"eleven, plus Laura and Rebecca who are in their own room"

"thirteen?" Tomas paused and looked around, "sixteen?" his voice was one of sorrow

"And one in the hospital"

"ugh. ¿Dónde estoy?"

"Joey!"

"Tomas?"

"Si" Tomas nodded at Kuvira who smiled and pulled Joey in for a hug, she also pulled the last boy in for a hug when he groaned

"where's Bolin!?" he snapped, shoving Kuvira away

"Bolin... Bolin... Remind me who Bolin is again?" Kuvira asked kindly, she made no further effort to hug the boy

"Mako" the boy declared forcefully, "now tell me where my brother is...!"

Kuvira wasn't sure what to do, she hadn't yet learnt who was safe and who wasn't, nor had she been able to match all the names of all those they'd rescued to their faces. "Hush now" a soothing voice whispered, "your brother is in hospital"

"Kya" Kuvira acknowledged the older woman

"what do you mean he's in hospital?!"

"Mako. Keep your voice down, you'll wake the others" Kya replied

"Fuck you"

"no thanks, besides, I'm too old for you"

"hmph"

"now, are you gonna listen?" Mako nodded once. "your brother is in hospital because the people who captured you, Transigen" Mako growled angrily which was entirely justified in Kya's opinion, "poisoned him, and would've done the same to all of you who had been captured had we not intervened"

"my brother... Is he alive?"

"Yes" Kya replied

"Otay" Mako replied, his shoulders slumping, "I'd like to visit him tomorrow"

"Of course" Kya paused, "now let's get you three off to bed" Kya picked Tomas up while Kuvira picked up Joey and Mako, they took them upstairs and led them down in the dorm room before they both retreated to their own beds


	24. P'Li

It had been two weeks since the final group of children had been rescued from Transigen's Vermont station, Bolin had more or less recovered from his poisoning and all the children were finally safe. Korra and Asami had breached the subject of the children that hadn't made it once Bolin was safely home. They had held a beautiful outside vigil for the three children that had not made it and Kuvira had engraved moderately sized stones with their names, they had decided against gravestones because they knew they'd eventually have to leave their current hideout and go elsewhere when Elizabeth's family returned to their Montreal home in a few months and they didn't want to leave a trace of them being there, both to protect themselves and to protect Elizabeth's family. The children had written their own song for the event which they then sung beautifully and had reduced all the adults to tears as the children sung their pain and sorrow through their own tears for the whole world to hear. They sung a verse about each of the children that had died, Jonah, Gideon and Rictor, they sung about some of the good times they had had, thanks to the tireless efforts of Gabriela and the other nurses, not all their time in the Transigen facility was bad. They fondly recalled and sung about the three lost children's birthday parties they had taken part in before they were slated for death by the executive people in charge of Transigen and they sung about what the three children's hopes and dreams had been. Korra and Asami had devoted their entire day, even more of it than they normally did, to spend with the children, everything else had been deemed unnecessary. Lin and Kya as well as Kuvira and Elizabeth had also spent the day with the children after securing the entire house. Slowly, the children had begun to recover from the loss of the children and begun to look to Laura as their new leader. She may have been one of the younger ones but she was also leader material and fiercely independent like her biological father had been. She was still young and the adults were incredibly protective but Laura liked the duality to her life, she liked being able to make decisions for herself and the others and she absolutely adored how the adults would always be around to protect her and the others, just like she had become the Rictor figure to the other children, the adults but Korra and Asami especially were her Rictor figures. Laura had encouraged all the new children to become a part of the family to which they all agreed eagerly and she then approached Korra and Asami who had been over the moon with their decision to become fully fledged members of their family. Finally, they were all united as one family.

*

Korra, Laura and Lin had taken Rebecca to a hospital appointment and were waiting for the others to arrive at the park they were waiting at so the children could have a little fun in the snow then they were going go out and get a meal to celebrate them all being part of one large and mostly happy family. Korra had agreed to get Laura and Rebecca an ice cream although she had put up a bit of resistance, not because of the sugary nature of ice cream but because of the cold nature of it, Korra thought it was too cold for ice cream but Lin had helped persuade Korra to agree and Korra had left the children in Lin's capable hands. Lin was keeping them in her sights but had allowed them to play in the immediate area. The children were only a few feet away when something unthinkable happened. Pop. Pop. BOOM! Lin reacted on the first pop, she knew what was coming next. She jumped back and launched herself off of a pillar of earth that rose under her feet just in time to evade the explosion. "KORRA!!" Lin bellowed at the top of her voice while the children yelled in surprise. Laura had been caught on the edge of the blast and she flew through the air and landed on her hands and feet, she used her blades in her hands to stop herself sliding on the ice and jumped back towards Lin. Pop. Pop. BOOM! This time Lin wasn't so lucky, the combustion blast was heading right for her even as she jumped out of the way. Lin felt a small object collide with her when the explosion detonated then she was flying back before she could work out what had happened.

Lin groaned and held her head where she had landed but what she heard next caused her to jerk upright and made her blood feel like ice. "LAURA!!" Korra was bellowing her daughter's name but Laura wasn't moving. Out of the corner of her eye, Lin saw P'Li move into position to prepare to blow Lin apart when her head jerked back violently and her neck clunked from the force of the movement. The explosion went wild and shot into the air where it detonated harmlessly. Lin tore her eyes away from Laura's prominent form to see what was going on, P'Li was stood rigid having not moved since her head jerked back and Korra was on the offensive. Korra sprinted towards P'Li with reckless abandon while using her airbending to move faster than Lin believed possible. Korra's eyes were ablaze with unholy light, she leapt through the air and pulled both her arms back. P'Li's arms were dragged out in front of her while her head was still pulled back. Lin was about to scream a warning to Korra because of the lightning that was building around P'Li's hands but before she could, Korra's arms finished their movement and P'Li screamed. the blood that had been in her arms was coalescing into a cloud in front of her. Lin looked back to Laura and her eyes filled with tears when she saw Laura's eyes were closed. She placed her hand on Laura's neck and couldn't find her pulse immediately since it was so weak. Meanwhile, Korra was using P'Li's own blood as blades and was shoving the blades into P'Li viciously without a single care beyond hurting the woman who had attempted to kill her mother and had hurt her daughter. P'Li was shrieking in agony, Rebecca had pulled herself out of her wheelchair and had attempted to walk to Laura but she had collapsed, she didn't give up, she dragged herself the remainder of the way and was laying by Laura in the snow and stroking her cheek, trying to rouse her. Korra shrieked again and breathed fire all down P'Li's chest continuously while the earth moved up and slowly engulfed P'Li's legs, mutilating and crushing them slowly. To Lin's astonishment there was not a single drop of blood anywhere. Lin quickly realised that Korra was holding all of P'Li's blood in her body to ensure she had the maximum chance to do as much damage as possible without killing her. " **I WILL KILL YOU, BITCH!!** " was Korra's first words since she had yelled Laura's name. Korra's yells were so unnatural sounding that Lin felt her blood freeze every time she heard them

*

Lin's heart dropped even further when she heard Asami's scream, "LAURA!! LAURA NO!!" Asami ran forward but stumbled, Kuvira had sealed her foot in a lump of earth to prevent her from endangering herself. Lin noticed that not a single person was watching out of any windows and that all the blinds in all the windows surrounding them were shut even though she hadn't thought they had been. Kuvira raised her hands and clenched her fists, maintaining the hold on all the blinds surrounding them and keeping the car doors locked while Korra returned to brutally stabbing P'Li with both hands, the blood had solidified around Korra's hands and P'Li's stomach was covered with stab wounds while her chest and neck were burnt raw and Korra hadn't stopped breathing fire all down P'Li even for a second. A rumble came from the sky above Korra, her hair was whipping around in a localised storm front and she moved her hands slightly, P'Li jerked into a new position with some rather sickening noises that were in a way worse than the squelching of the blades that tore through her stomach. While her arms had been forced back into an unnatural position behind her to expose her stomach and chest for Korra's relentless attack, they were now outstretched in front of her but her forehead was still skyward to prevent any further explosions from threatening any of their group. Seconds after P'Li had been forced into the new position there was another rumble of thunder and a gigantic lightning bolt shot down from the sky and passed into P'Li's neck. The stench of burned flesh intensified while P'Li had stopped whimpering, the lightning bolt was powerful enough to burn P'Li's entire back and expose the bones of her spine by incinerating the flesh. Korra roared, " **YOU THINK YOU AND YOUR PATHETIC RED LOTUS SCUM CAN CHASE AFTER MY FAMILY AND ATTEMPT TO MURDER THEM?! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!!** "

 _Oh wow, I've never seen Korra this mad, not even when those lowlifes hurt Laura the last time_ Lin was scared of Korra but she couldn't help encouraging Korra in her head. Korra had forced P'Li to lift her arms and was busy stabbing her in the sides and the earth that had slowly moved up her had crushed all the way up to her hips

Asami was crying openly, she had given up trying to pull her foot free and while the logical part of her mind understood why Kuvira had done it, she couldn't help but be enraged that she couldn't get to her daughter to hold her, or get to P'Li to stab her herself "fuck" she whimpered, she knew she was powerless to help

" **AND NOW... YOU _DIE_!!!**" Korra screamed the last four words P'Li would ever hear, she moved back away from P'Li and manipulated her arms. Asami knew what was coming next but neither she nor the other adults, save Lin who was busy cradling Laura and whispering to her could look away. There was a squelch when the earth retracted down back into the ground, exposing P'Li's mutilated legs then an even bigger pop. Asami felt something hit the front of her leg but she was frozen in place, staring at where P'Li had once stood. Korra had created an artificial vacuum around P'Li, but this time it was slower, more deliberate and P'Li had eventually exploded with a pop.

*

Slowly Asami's senses came back to her, she felt herself get guided back to the car and Kuvira lowered the earth walls that were preventing the other children from seeing the spectacle that they'd just witnessed. She felt Kya's cool hand around her wrist then it was gone. Kuvira had arrived and sat Rebecca in the seat next to Asami, Kya brought Laura over and rested her gently in Asami's arms. They all got in and drove away from the scene as quickly as they could. "Korra..." Asami whispered, "where's Korra?" Asami looked through the window and watched Korra flying off. "have to go after Korra" Asami whimpered, petrified by what she had seen, not only that, but Korra's _deliberate_ brutality

"We have to get the children to safety first" Kya replied.

There was a groan from Asami's lap, Laura looked up with pain filled eyes, "mama" she whispered

"She's alright" Lin sighed

"i'm here, Laura, I'm here" Asami whispered, trying to take her daughter's mind off the residual pain, the injuries from the explosion had finally begun to heal. The three cars which Asami had recently purchased rejoined the traffic on the main road as the sounds of the first sirens filled the air.


	25. An Uncertain Future

"fuck. What the fuck are we gonna do?!" Asami was stood in the kitchen with Lin, Kya and Elizabeth while Kuvira was keeping an eye on the children who had been taken to the basement and Korra was leant up against the wall, holding Laura tightly. They had fled Montreal after the Red Lotus attack and had abandoned their celebratory meal. P'Li was dead, yes, but none of the other Red Lotus members had been found even after Korra had shot off in her rage to attempt to find them.

"i... Dunno" Lin had her head in her hands and had bloodshot eyes from crying

"Gran-Gran" Laura spoke softly, "I'm otay"

"My poor Laura, I'm sorry" Lin whispered her reply, "those bastards will pay" Laura nuzzled up against her

"I... Uh have an idea"

"Quick"

"We could... Uh... Move out?"

"Eliz, are you sure you wanna come with us?" Asami looked worriedly at her friend. "they won't stop trying to kill us"

"even more reason for me to come"

"right"

"anyway, we could create a house deep in the mountains"

"W... What about school?" Laura whispered

"I'm sorry, Laura, the Red Lotus now know you're with us" Asami remembered back to the shock she had felt when Lin interpreted what a few of the children had been babbling about in their native Spanish. "with what you did to save Lin, what Erica did to wipe the minds of everyone in the area" she vividly recalled Erica slumping in her seat soon after they had left with a torrent of blood pouring down her face, "and what Stephan did to the cameras and the recordings" she remembered the cameras sparking and a distant screaming of fire engines, "you're all in danger now. If neither the Red Lotus not the Transigen bastards find out about this within a few weeks, it'll be astounding" Asami looked at Kya who shook her head wearily, Kya didn't approve of what using the telepathic powers had done to Erica.

"I'm not sure if it's safe" Kya replied to Asami's look. "It took a lot out of her"

"I know, which is why moving away would be safer" Elizabeth replied. "we could keep the kids here til the new house is complete then move them. Korra, it would also be a chance for you to work on your strength. Asami, you could design the place, Lin you could help build it, Kya you'd need to help clear the snow. I'd have to stay and watch over the kids" Elizabeth finished lamely

"I'm in" Lin stated firmly. "i agree it's a good idea"

"then it is decided?"

"yup"

"Right, you lot think you can handle the kids for one night? I've got designs to do"

"don't worry Asami, we'll handle it" Korra's vow reassured Asami

"don't forget security, that combustionbender may not be the only one, and that Ghazan bloke could do some serious damage"

"Don't worry, I intend to plan for every eventuality" Asami hurried off, grabbing her pencils as she went

"She's good"

"the very best" Kuvira was corrected by Korra

*

*

"are you sure this is the right place?"

"yep, there's obvious evidence of bending here"

"they must be close"

"Probably fleeing for their lives"

"ugh" the two people who had been talking sprinted away from the park they had been stood in "don't wanna have to track them all over again" she sighed. "come on, let's go!"

"I'm coming!!"

Lin had taken the car to the mountains and had been trekking up them to try to find a secluded spot for their new house but she heard a rustle behind her and turned, flinging a cable at the noise. She watched a bear stagger away but it didn't turn and attack. "don't make it worse" she hissed but she didn't have to worry, the bear had decided she wasn't worth the trouble or pain. In a way Lin missed the ferocious and unrelenting nature of one of the South Pole's native predators that she knew could also be so gentle. "miss you, N" she sighed. When she heard a bark a few seconds later she didn't dare believe her own ears, it was only when a gigantic weight landed on her that she believed, really believed that it was the very individual she had been missing. "N?" _get off me!_ "alright, girl, enough is enough!" the gigantic four legged beast that she had affectionately nicknamed 'N' yipped happily and licked her face, "first you jump on me then you lick me all over" Lin grumbled. She rolled her eyes then she realised that this animal was perhaps the most sentient she had ever come across, and she'd spent years sharing the natural home of the dolphins. "hey, girl" Lin smiled while patting her head, "you know of any good places to build a hidden home?" she asked. The dog yipped again and dropped on to the snow. Lin, getting the hint, jumped up on to the beast and grabbed hold of her saddle while the animal shot over snow, ice and water at a blinding speed towards an unknown destination

*

"hey, girl, slow down, I'm starting to feel a little sick" Lin moaned after half an hour of top speed running from the beast which dropped to the snow again and Lin clambered off. "we here?" Lin asked, she turned and looked around in awe at where she had been brought. She let a gasp escape her lips when she realised she was deep under a glacier, the thick ice above and the massive cliffs, again of ice either side would provide perfect protection from the outside world. _Even Ming-Hua would have difficulty moving that amount of iceLin thought,and Ghazan? He might be able to turn rock to lava but where there's no rock, he's powerless_. Lin looked around again in wonder at what she had foundit's perfect. "good girl" Lin patted her head then hugged her

"Hey, mama, comfortable?"

"mhm" Kya muttered back, she was comfortable physically but not comfortable in any other way, even with the cat's reassuring weight on her lap she couldn't help but worry about her Lin. Kya was absent-mindedly petting the cat while nervously thinking about everything that could've gone wrong.

"mama" Kya peeked around Asami to see Delilah and Erica standing behind her. Delilah held the other girl's hand tightly while she stared at a point on the wall, only half aware of her surroundings

Asami turned and dropped to her knees, "yes, my daughters?" Asami had pulled both of them into a reassuring hug while Korra walked up behind them

"there you two are... You know you should be in the basement right?"

"Mommy" Erica snapped out of her trance and pulled closer to Korra then reached out for Asami. What she had done after the attack had changed her. She was now more cautious and reserved, Korra and Asami were, of course, worried about their daughter but they kept their concerns private and simply hugged their daughter hoping to reassure her.

"we're here Erica" Korra cooed in the voice she kept only for her daughters.

"Will I have to do _it_ again?" she whimpered

"i... Don't know" Asami had replied completely honestly when there was a thud out the front of the house as the front door banged open. _Mom_!

Elizabeth was already on her way to greet her though so Asami stayed with Erica, hugging her and trying to keep her from going back into her trance like state "she found something!!" Elizabeth exclaimed

"right" Asami took charge. "we need to go shopping for materials"


End file.
